Parus amabilis Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877),
1, 338, pl. 5, fig. 2; Gadow, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 8, 22.
Pardaliparus amabilis Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 327; McGregor
and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 93.
Balabac (Steere, Everett); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp.,
Bourns & Worcester, Celestino, White).
Adult male.--Entire head, neck, chin, throat, and chest glossy
blue-black; neck bordered behind by a mantle of clear canary-yellow;
back and rump lavender-gray; tail-coverts black; breast and remainder
of under parts bright lemon-yellow; wings and tail black; greater
and median coverts and primary-coverts broadly tipped with white;
primaries with small white tips or marks on outer webs; secondaries
with wider white tips and pale gray edges; inner webs of quills
edged with white; rectrices broadly tipped with white and all but
the center pair with outer webs white, but this much reduced in pair
next the center pair. Wing, 72; tail, 46; culmen from base, 10.5;
bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 16.
Adult female.--Black of head and throat much duller than in the male;
yellow of the mantle reduced to a narrow band; remainder of the back
olive-green, somewhat mixed with lavender-gray on rump; white marks
on wings and tail much smaller than in the male. Wing, 70; tail, 44;
culmen from base, 10.5; bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 16.
"Young.--Very different from the adult. It is brown above with
an olive-greenish tinge, the head and face browner. Below it is
yellow, duller than in the adult, the throat olive; wings and tail
browner than in the adult, with the same white spotting, but not so
pronounced." (Sharpe.)
Genus PENTHORNIS Hellmayr, 1901.
The genus Penthornis is distinguished from Pardaliparus by its nearly
uniform black plumage and white frontal band.
Species.
a1. Wings uniform black with no white bar. ... semilarvatus (p. 608)
a2. Wings black, but with a conspicuous white bar near the base of
primaries and secondaries. ... tessacourbe (p. 608)