Meliphaga mystacalis Temminck, Pl. Col. (1825), pl. 335, fig. 2.
Climacteris mystacalis Gadow, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 8, 339.
Rhabdornis mystacalis Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 356; Whitehead,
Ibis (1899), 226 (habits, anatomy); McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 95.
Luzon (Meyer, Möllendorff, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester,
Whitehead, McGregor); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester); Negros
(Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, Celestino); Panay (Steere Exp.,
Bourns & Worcester).
Male.--Top of head and hind neck with broad white shaft-streaks;
back and rump drab-gray, the shafts of the feathers white; wings
like the back; primaries, secondaries, and rectrices blackish brown;
inner webs of wing-quills edged with light buff; stripe under eye, on
ear-coverts, and on side of neck black; under parts white; feathers of
sides, flanks, and crissum bordered with black, producing a streaked
appearance; under wing-coverts and axillars pale buff. Length, about
155. A male from Bataan Province, Luzon, measures: Wing, 82; tail,
49; culmen from base, 24; bill from nostril, 17; tarsus, 18.
Female.--Top of head, nape, and ear-coverts brown.
"This creeper feeds in deep woods, but is more common in second growth;
it is nowhere very abundant. Very variable in size and in length of
bill. Three males average as follows: Culmen, 26; wing, 80; tail,
28; tarsus, 20; middle toe with claw, 20.5. A female, length, 149;
wing, 80; tail, 49; culmen, 23; tarsus, 18; middle toe with claw,
19.5. Bill, legs, and feet black." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)