Parus elegans Lesson, Traité d'Orn. (1831), 456; Gadow, Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus. (1883), 8, 22; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 224 (habits).
Pardaliparus elegans Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 328; McGregor
and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 94 (part).
Pi-pít mó-tas, Manila.
Bongao (Everett); Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor);
Guimaras (Steere, Steere Exp.); Luzon (Cuming, Everett,
Möllendorff, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor, Mearns, Bartsch);
Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Everett, Steere Exp.,
Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns &
Worcester); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester); [81] Tawi Tawi
(Bourns & Worcester).*
Male.--Entire top of head and hind neck glossy black; in the center
of hind neck a large irregular yellow spot; upper back mostly black,
but with some large spots of pale yellow; scapulars, lower back, and
rump olive-green; tail-coverts black; chin, throat, chest, and sides
of chest glossy black, separated from the black of head and neck by a
broad lemon-yellow stripe which begins under the front of the eye and
ends on side of neck; remainder of under parts lemon-yellow; wings
black; inner webs of quills edged with white; most of the primaries
white toward the tips of outer webs; secondaries and some of the
primaries tipped with white; greater and median secondary-coverts
with broad white tips, forming two wing-bars; rectrices black, tipped
with white, three outer pairs with white on outer webs. Iris and bill
black; feet and nails plumbeous. Length, about 120; wing, 65; tail,
42; culmen from base, 11; bill from nostril, 8; tarsus, 17.
Female.--Duller, the chin and throat dark brown instead of glossy
black. An adult breeding female from Benguet Province, Luzon, measures:
Wing, 62; tail, 37; culmen from base, 11.5; bill from nostril, 8.5;
tarsus, 18.
Young.--Birds of the year have the entire upper parts olive-green,
but the yellow nuchal patch is always indicated; under parts gray
to pale yellow, somewhat washed with olive; chin and throat more or
less uniform with the abdomen, but the black patch beginning to show
in older individuals; wings and tail marked as in the adult.
"The habits of the elegant titmouse are like those of P. amabilis;
it feeds in leaves at the ends of branches, often back downward. Ten
males average: Length, 110; wing, 63; tail, 37.5; culmen, 12; tarsus,
17; middle toe with claw, 16. Four females, length, 101; wing, 59;
tail, 35; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 15; culmen, 11. Iris dark
brown; legs and feet slaty blue to black; bill black; nails gray. We
found this species breeding in Cebu in the month of June." (Bourns
and Worcester MS.)