Lanius melanocephalos Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 1, 309.
Micropus melanocephalus Sharpe, Cat. Birds, Brit. Mus. (1881),
6, 65; Oates, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1889), 1, 294, fig. 91 (tail).
Microtarsus melanocephalus Sharpe, Hand-List (1901), 3, 315;
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 80.
Palawan (Everett, Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns &
Worcester, McGregor, Celestino, White). Malay Peninsula, Burmese
provinces, eastern Bengal, Sumatra, Java, Borneo.
Adult.--Entire head, chin, and throat black, faintly glossed with
green and purple; mantle and back olive-yellow, gradually becoming
citron-yellow on rump and tail-coverts; feathers of lower back long
and thick-set, overhanging the rump, each feather with a subterminal
black band; breast and sides olive-yellow, becoming lighter posteriorly
and bright egg-yellow on middle of abdomen and on under tail-coverts;
wings mostly black, but the secondaries and their coverts broadly
edged with citron-yellow; inner webs of quills edged with white;
axillars and wing-lining pale yellow; basal part of tail olive-green,
followed by a wide black subterminal bar; tips of rectrices bright
egg-yellow. The sexes are similar in colors, but the female is a little
the darker. Length, about 165. A male measures: Wing, 77; tail, 67;
culmen from base, 16.5; bill from nostril, 10; tarsus, 15. A female,
wing, 75; tail, 67; culmen from base, 15; bill from nostril, 9;
tarsus, 12.
"The black-headed bulbul is fairly common in Palawan. It is usually
seen about trees and bushes in the open, but is occasionally met with
in the forest, above the tree tops. Seven males average: Length, 170;
wing, 76; tail, 68; culmen, 16.5; tarsus, 14; middle toe with claw,
16. Three females, length, 167; wing, 75; tail, 69; culmen, 15;
tarsus, 13; middle toe with claw, 16. Iris bright blue; bill, legs,
feet, and nails black." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus TRICHOPHORUS Temminck, 1821.
This genus resembles Irena in having long nuchal hairs and a rather
short, slightly compressed, bill, but in Trichophorus the nostrils are
exposed and the wings are relatively short and rounded, the primaries
exceeding the secondaries by about the length of tarsus; head slightly
crested; the colors are olive-yellow, light yellow, brown, and gray.
Species.
a1. Chin and throat clear gray; much larger; wing, more than 95
mm. ... frater (p. 514)
a2. Chin and throat gray, streaked with yellow; much smaller; wing,
less than 90 mm. ... palawanensis (p. 515)