Chibia menagei Bourns and Worcester, Minnesota
Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 15; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 107; McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1906), 1, 775,
pl. 4.
Tablas (Bourns and Worcester, Celestino).
Adult.--Very similar in colors to C. palawanensis, but distinguished
from that and all other Philippine species of the genus by the
extremely long and very deeply forked tail. A male in worn plumage
measures: Length, 355; wing, 141; tail (chord of longest feather),
187; bill from nostril, 22.5; depth of bill at nostril, 11; tarsus,
25; difference in length between the middle and outermost rectrices,
73; distance between tips of outermost rectrices, 120.
"Average measurements of nine males: Length, 336; culmen, 34.7; wing,
137; tail, 175; tarsus, 25. Of seven females: Length, 327; culmen,
34.7; wing, 136; tail, 168; tarsus, 26. This curious species is by
far the largest representative of its genus yet discovered in the
Philippine Islands, and differs strikingly from both the other known
species, one of which is confined to Palawan and the Calamianes
Islands, while the other occurs in the Sulu Group and in Cagayan
Sulu. C. menagei seems to be strictly confined to the Island of Tablas
where it is not rare in the deep woods." (Bourns and Worcester.)
"Iris very dark brown; bill, legs, feet and nails black. Food
insects." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus BHUCHANGA Hodgson, 1836.
Tail deeply forked and slightly shorter than wing; rectrices much
narrower than in either Dicrurus or Chibia, the outermost pair slightly
upturned at tips. Prevailing colors of plumage blue-gray and cinereous.