Dicæum nigrilore Hartert, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club (1904), 15, 8;
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 97.
Mindanao (Waterstradt, Mearns).
Male and female.--Head, nape, and ear-coverts greenish yellow; lores
and a line under eye and ear-coverts blackish; mantle and sides of
neck sepia-brown; lower back, rump, and tail-coverts greenish yellow;
chin, fore part of throat, abdomen, and middle of breast white; throat
and breast ash-gray; flanks and crissum bright yellow; wings and
tail blackish brown; primaries edged with white; the other feathers
edged with greenish yellow. A female measures: Wing, 52; tail, 27;
culmen from base, 14; bill from nostril, 10; tarsus, 14.
This is a very distinct species which is found only in the mountains
of Mindanao.
Genus PRIONOCHILUS Strickland, 1841.
Bill short and stout, very wide at base; gonys decidedly convex; first
primary less than one-half the second or wanting. The Philippine
species that are usually placed in this genus are not uniform in
generic characters. P. johannæ has a short first primary and a
moderately stout bill; it resembles P. ignicapillus and is probably
a typical Prionochilus. P. olivaceous has a short first primary and
the bill somewhat stouter than P. johannæ. Prionochilus quadricolor,
P. bicolor, and P. inexpectatus resemble one another in having the
bill short and very stout and the true first primary absent.
Species.
a1. Under parts red and yellow ... johannæ (p. 638)
a2. Under parts white, or white and gray.
b1. Mantle bright red ... quadricolor (p. 638)
b2. Mantle not red.
c1. Entire upper parts glossy blue-black.
d1. Under parts entirely white ... bicolor (p. 640)
d2. Under parts mostly light gray; chin, throat, and middle of
breast and of abdomen white ... inexpectatus (p. 640)
c2. Entire upper parts olive-yellow ... olivaceus (p. 639)