Prionochilus æruginosus Bourns and Worcester, Minnesota
Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 20.
Piprisoma æruginosum Grant, Ibis (1895), 454; Whitehead, Ibis
(1899), 235; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 98.
Cebu (Bourns & Worcester); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Whitehead,
McGregor); Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (Everett);
Romblon (McGregor); Sibuyan (McGregor).
Adult (sexes alike).--Above dark hair-brown, faintly washed with olive;
rump and tail-coverts olivaceous; wing-feathers and rectrices blackish
brown, edged with olivaceous; two outer pairs of rectrices tipped
with white on inner webs; lores whitish; white malar line separated
from throat by a hair-brown line; under parts white; breast, sides of
throat and of abdomen, and flanks boldly streaked with hair-brown;
under tail-coverts white with median, basal, brown markings. A male
from Luzon measures: Wing, 66; tail, 37; culmen from base, 9; bill
from nostril, 6; greatest width of bill, 6; tarsus, 14. A female from
Luzon, wing, 60; tail, 33; culmen from base, 10; bill from nostril,
6; tarsus, 13.
Young.--Similar to the adult but the upper parts darker and clearer
brown; stripes on under parts indefinite and almost obsolete; the
whole plumage is gray rather than brown.
"Found in the forest only. Iris brick-red; legs, feet, and nails nearly
black; upper mandible brown, lower gray." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Family NECTARINIIDÆ.
Bill slender, usually strongly decurved and tapering to the sharply
pointed tip; bill as long as head or much longer, without notch or
hook, but the cutting edges minutely serrated for their distal thirds;
rictal bristles inconspicuous or lacking; each nostril opening covered
by a large opercle; first primary less than one-half the second, the
latter decidedly shorter than third which nearly equals the fourth
and fifth; tail square, rounded, or strongly graduated.
Subfamilies.
a1. Bill and head about equal in length; sexes different in colors;
plumage of male more or less metallic ... Nectariniinæ (p. 642)
a2. Bill at least twice as long as the head; sexes alike in colors
and without metallic plumage ... Arachnotherinæ (p. 662)
Subfamily NECTARINIINÆ.
Genera.
a1. Nasal opercles covered with short feathers; rectrices long and
graduated. ... Chalcostetha (p. 642)
a2. Nasal opercles naked; or, if feathered, the tail moderate in
length and nearly square.
b1. Rump bright yellow, or else the throat greenish or pale yellow.
c1. Tail of males usually long and strongly graduate; central
rectrices often slender and somewhat pointed and always extending
beyond the feet. ... Æthopyga (p. 643)
c2. Tail short and nearly square, never extending beyond the
toes. ... Eudrepanis (p. 649)
b2. Rump dull green, or some metallic color nearly uniform with
the back; tail square, none of the rectrices narrow.
c1. Much smaller; wing about 60 mm.; bill more slender and more
strongly curved. ... Cinnyris (p. 651)
c2. Much larger; wing about 70 mm.; bill stouter and but slightly
curved. ... Anthreptes (p. 658)
Genus CHALCOSTETHA Cabanis, 1850.
Back, rump, and tail-coverts metallic green and purple; top of head
bright metallic green; rectrices graduated; nasal opercles covered
with short feathers. The last character mentioned distinguishes
Chalcostetha from all nearly related genera.