Myiothera andromedæ "Kuhl MS," Temminck, Pl. Col. (1826), 2,
no. 392.
Geocichla andromedæ Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1881), 5, 163.
Zoothera andromeda Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 138.
Geocichla andromeda Grant, Ibis (1906), 477.
Mindanao (Goodfellow). Java, Sumatra, Lombok.
"In the adult male in spring plumage the general color of the upper
parts is dark brown, approaching black on the head and on the margins
of the feathers of the back; feathers of lores and ear-coverts with
pale centers; no trace of eye-stripe; wings and tail not quite so
black as the back; chin and upper throat white, with narrow transverse
terminal black bands; cheeks pale slate-gray with broad terminal
black bands; lower throat and breast pale slate-gray; center of
belly and under tail-coverts buffish white; flanks black with large
diamond-shaped white centers; axillars, basal half white, terminal
half black; lower under wing-coverts, basal half black, terminal
half white; basal portions of the inner webs of the secondaries and
many of the primaries white. Bill abnormally long, dark brown above
and below; wing with the fourth primary slightly the longest, second
primary about equal to the sixth; bastard primary, 32 to 28 mm. Legs,
feet, and claws dark brown. Wing, 124 to 122; tail, 77 to 71; culmen,
29 to 28; tarsus, 34 to 33.
"It is not known that there is any difference of plumage attributable
to either sex or season. Young in first plumage have pale ochraceous
shafts to most of the feathers of the upper parts and fan-shaped,
ochraceous terminal spots to the wing-coverts. The under parts
are also much suffused with ochraceous and the breast and flanks
barred with black, the diamond-shaped pale centers being irregular
in shape." (Seebohm.)
Genus OREOCINCLA Gould, 1838.
"In the genus Oreocincla the sexes are alike, the under wing-coverts
and axillars are each of two colors, those on the axillars being
transposed or reversed in order on the under wing-coverts, the
lower plumage is distinctly barred or spotted, never squamated,
and the rictal bristles are few and confined to the gape. The tail
is typically short and the upper tail-coverts very ample. There is
a distinct pattern on the under side of the wing." (Oates.)