Æthopyga magnifica Sharpe, Nature (1876), 14, 297;
Trans. Linn. Soc. 2d. ser. Zool. (1877), 1, 342; Shelley,
Monogr. Nectarin. pt. 3 (1877), 51, pl. 17; Gadow, Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus. (1884), 9, 24; Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 241,
pl. 5, figs. 5 & 6 (eggs); Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 229 (nest);
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 98.
Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Steere,
Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, Celestino);
Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor);
Tablas (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino).
Male.--Forehead and malar stripe metallic, dark royal purple; remainder
of head, entire neck, and mantle bright poppy-red; chin, throat, and
breast scarlet-vermilion, the basal and central parts of the feathers
pale yellow; back and rump black with a median more or less concealed
patch of gamboge-yellow; tail and coverts metallic royal purple;
wings, lower breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts dead black;
axillars and wing-lining black; lesser and median wing-coverts red,
and some of the greater coverts narrowly edged with red. A male from
Cebu measures: Wing, 59; tail, 49; culmen from base, 24; bill from
nostril, 19; tarsus, 16. Upper mandible brown, lower mandible reddish
flesh; legs and nails dark brown.
Female.--Dull green with a slight reddish wash across the back;
wing-feathers and rectrices blackish brown, the latter edged with dark
crimson; wing-feathers and rump more faintly washed with crimson. A
female from Cebu, wing, 56; tail, 43; culmen from base, 22; bill from
nostril, 18; tarsus, 15.
Young birds resemble the adult female, but the young males early show
indications of the red throat and breast and of the black abdomen.
"Eight males from Negros average: Length, 133; wing, 57.6; tail, 47.4;
culmen, 25; tarsus, 15; middle toe with claw, 15. Three females from
Cebu measure: Length, 125; wing, 55; tail, 41; culmen, 25; tarsus, 16;
middle toe with claw, 16. Nine males from Sibuyan average: Length, 137;
wing, 61; tail, 51; culmen, 25; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 16.
"It will be seen that the Sibuyan birds belong to a larger race, but
we do not think they can be specifically separated. Breeding in the
month of June in Cebu. Native name in Negros 'a-na-nag-bac.' Shot in
Sibuyan 1,100 meters above sea-level." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Two eggs of the magnificent sunbird collected by Steere in Negros,
February, 1888, and three eggs collected at the base of Canlaon
Volcano by Whitehead, March 23, 1896, are described as follows:
"Shape ovate. Ground-color pale terra-cotta red, very thickly mottled
all over with a darker tint of the same color, the mottlings heaviest
at the larger end, a few fine hair-like scribblings crossing the
shell transversely. Measurements 17 mm. by 12 mm."
Another set of two eggs, collected by Whitehead in Negros, April 15,
1896, are described as having the "Ground-color as in the above,
but the shell heavily clouded with rich dark terra-cotta and darker
scribblings and specks of the same color. Measurements 16 mm. by
12 mm."
"This sunbird nests in old forest. The nest is generally found
suspended among forest débris in the vicinity of some huge tree-trunks
only a few feet from the ground. It is well hidden by the undergrowth.
"The nest is a well-woven bag-shaped structure, with a roofed entrance
at the side. It is principally constructed of fine grass, rootlets,
palm fiber, and fragments of dead leaves woven together with spiders'
webs and lined with fine dead grass tops and seeds. The nest found
by Professor Steere was suspended from a root under the overhanging
bank of a river, and looked like a tuft of rubbish left by high
water." (Grant and Whitehead.)