Orthotomus castaneiceps Walden, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1872),
10, 252; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 7, 223; Hand-List
(1903), 4, 192; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 220; McGregor and
Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 88.
Orthotomus panayensis Steere, List Bds. & Mams. Steere
Exped. (1890), 20.
Sa-gua-ti, Ticao; ta-gua-ti, Masbate and Bantayan.
Bantayan (McGregor); Guimaras (Meyer, Steere Exp.); Masbate
(Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Everett, Steere Exp.,
Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead); Panay (Murray, Steere, Steere Exp.,
Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor).
Adult.--Top of head from bill to neck, lores, a broad line under eye,
and upper part of ear-coverts chestnut; back, rump, and tail-coverts
slate-gray; the rump and tail-coverts green in some specimens;
wing-feathers and rectrices edged with bright olive-green; tail
with a dusky band near its tip; under parts white; throat and breast
streaked with slate-gray; sides and flanks more or less washed with
ashy gray; thighs chestnut, flanks and crissum washed with green in
some specimens. Length, about 150. A male from Bantayan measures: Wing,
57; tail, 55; culmen from base, 20; bill from nostril, 12; tarsus,
23. A female, wing, 50; tail, 46; culmen from base, 18; tarsus, 22.
"Steere has attempted to separate the Panay tailorbird from that of
Guimaras and Negros, but after a most careful examination of a large
series of specimens from Panay, Negros, and Masbate we are compelled to
say that there is not the slightest difference between the birds from
the three islands. Their size is the same. The wash of olive-green on
the back, on which Doctor Steere relied to separate the Panay birds,
is a variable character present in some birds, absent in others shot
at the same season. It occurs in birds from Negros and Masbate as
well as those from Panay. The presumptive evidence against finding
one species of Orthotomus in Panay and another in Guimaras is of
course very strong. Guimaras is to all intents and purposes a part of
Panay and there are no other known differences between the birds of
the two islands. Masbate is a new locality for the species." (Bourns
and Worcester.)
"The chestnut-headed tailorbird frequents low bushes in open country,
also the mangrove swamps; less common in the woods. A noisy bird,
its note being very similar to that of O. frontalis." (Bourns and
Worcester MS.)