Mixornis cagayanensis Guillemard, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1885), 419,
pl. 25; Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 53; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 82.
Cagayan Sulu (Guillemard).
Male.--"Above grayish olive; the forehead grayish, with black shafts
to the feathers, the occipital region with a tinge of chestnut;
feathers round the eye and in the parotic region ashy; throat and
chin pure white, broadly striped with black; breast pale yellow, also
broadly striped, shading off below into the yellowish olive-gray of
the crissum and under tail-coverts; thighs with a slight reddish tint;
under wing-coverts white; wings chestnut; tail brown with traces of
dark barring. Iris pale yellow; bill and feet lead-colored. Length,
about 145; wing, 64; tail, 60; bill from gape, 18; tarsus, 20.
"This species, which was common in low bushes in the more
open situations in the island, is at once distinguishable from
M. bornensis by the upper surface being of an ashy olive-brown
instead of chestnut. It has a loud note of alarm, is very
restless in its movements, and apparently rarely flies far off the
ground." (Guillemard.)
Genus MACRONOUS Jardine and Selby, 1835.
Rictal bristles about as long as bill from nostril; nasal opening oval
and not protected by a flap; culmen from base less than tarsus; long
feathers of the back reaching to or beyond the tips of tail-coverts,
their shafts stiff and usually white; feathers on sides of body
long, decomposed, and hair-like; most of the plumage loose and
decomposed. Macronous resembles Mixornis in its long dorsal feathers,
but differs from the latter in having the shafts of these feathers
thick and stiff. Zosterornis differs from both of these genera in
having shorter dorsal plumes and in having a flap above the nasal
opening.
Species.
a1. Entire top of head black with conspicuous white shaft-stripes.
b1. Throat and breast white, edges of the feathers ocherous buff
or brown. ... striaticeps (p. 535)
b2. Throat and breast washed with ocherous brown or sparrow-brown.
c1. Slightly larger; lighter in color and with lighter
markings. ... mindanensis (p. 535)
c2. Slightly smaller; much darker and with heavier markings
throughout. ... montanus (p. 536)
a2. Entire top of head brown with a few narrow shaft-stripes of
white. ... kettlewelli (p. 537)