Nectarinia pygmæum Kittlitz, Mem. pres. Acad. St. Petersb. (1833),
2, pts. 1, 2, pl. 2.
Dicæum pygmæum Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1885), 10, 43;
Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 234 (distribution, nest); McGregor and
Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 97.
Pi-pít dá-po, Manila.
Balabac (Everett); Bohol (McGregor); Calayan (McGregor);
Fuga (McGregor); Guimaras (Meyer); Leyte (Everett, Whitehead);
Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Meyer, Everett, Steere Exp., Whitehead,
McGregor); Maestre de Campo (McGregor & Worcester); Masbate (Bourns
& Worcester, McGregor, Bartsch); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Everett,
McGregor); Negros (Steere Exp.); Palawan (Everett, Whitehead,
Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino, [88] White);
Polillo (McGregor); Romblon (McGregor); Samar (Bourns & Worcester);
Semirara (McGregor & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester);
Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Ticao (McGregor).
Male.--Above glossy steel-green heavily washed with yellow on lower
back, rump, and tail-coverts; lores blackish; sides of head, of throat,
and of breast dark cinereous; middle of chin, throat, and chest white
faintly washed with yellow and interrupted in the middle of breast by a
cinereous patch; middle of abdomen and tail-coverts light buff; sides
and flanks olive-green; rectrices black, edged with metallic green;
wings black; secondaries and greater coverts edged with olive-yellow;
alula, lesser coverts, and median coverts edged with glossy green. A
male from Cebu measures: Wing, 46; tail, 23; culmen from base, 10;
bill from nostril, 6.5; tarsus, 11.
Female.--Above somewhat similar to the male, but lighter and greener
and with less metallic gloss; wing-feathers edged with olive-yellow;
all the under parts lighter and paler than in the male. A female from
Cebu, wing, 43; tail, 21; culmen from base, 10; bill from nostril,
7; tarsus, 11.
"The pygmy flowerpecker is the smallest and most widely distributed
of Philippine Dicæidæ. Invariably found by us in the deep woods. A
very fearless bird. Iris dark brown; legs, feet, and nails dark brown
to coal-black; bill black, except base of lower mandible, which is
yellowish to gray. Breeding in Palawan in December and in Samar in
July. Four males average: Length, 92; wing, 46; tail, 25; culmen, 13;
tarsus, 12; middle toe with claw, 12. Three females, length, 83.5;
wing, 45; tail, 24.6; culmen, 13; tarsus, 12; middle toe with claw,
12." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)