Oriolus assimilis Tweeddale, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1877), 760,
pl. 76; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 107; McGregor,
Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 308.
Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor).
Adult (sexes similar).--Above olive-yellow; lores, jaw, cheeks,
chin, throat, and chest cinereous; lower breast, abdomen, flanks,
and thighs white heavily streaked with black; feathers of crissum
dark olive-green, edged with olive-yellow; rectrices black slightly
washed with olive basally, narrowly tipped with dark gray on both
webs and with light yellow on inner webs; inner webs of wing-quills
edged with pale gray; axillars and wing-lining cinereous; bend of
wing gray, washed with yellow. Iris bright red; bill dull red-brown;
feet lead-blue; nails black. In the immature bird the iris is white
and the bill dull brown. An adult male measures: Length, 234; wing,
122; tail, 94; culmen from base, 24; bill from nostril, 16.5; tarsus,
22. Adult female, wing, 116; tail, 86; culmen from base, 24; bill
from nostril, 16.5; tarsus, 22.
"While this species is plainly of the Oriolus steeri type it differs
in being larger, in the much darker and greener upper parts and under
tail-coverts, in the darker throat and breast, in the wider black
markings of abdomen, and in the reduced yellow tips of rectrices.
"O. assimilis is exceedingly common in the small amount of forest
left in Cebu. It is a well-marked species and could not possibly
be mistaken for O. steeri, being a much darker bird. The lack of
the bright rump and under tail-coverts is an especially striking
point of difference. Sixteen males average: Length, 225; wing, 120;
tail, 89; culmen, 26; tarsus, 22.3; middle toe with claw, 23.8. Ten
females, length, 217; wing, 118; tail, 87; culmen, 25.6; tarsus,
22.3; middle toe with claw, 23.3. Iris usually bright red, but in
one case gray; legs and feet dark drab, nails black; bill light to
dark reddish brown. Food worms, grubs, snails, and fruit." (Bourns
and Worcester MS.)