HYLOTERPE PHILIPPINENSIS , Waidm.
Philippine-Islands Thickhead.
Hyloterpe philippinensis, Wald. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. x. p. 252 (1872).—Id. Trans. Zool. Soc. ix.
pp. 179, 250, pi. 31. fig. 2 (1875).—Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Zoology, i. p. 351.—Tweedd.
Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 109.—Wardlaw Ramsay, Ornith. Works of Marquis of Tweeddale, pp. 234,
344, 568, 656 (1881).
C aptain W ardlaw R amsay has been so good as to lend me several birds from the celebrated collection
formed by his late uncle the Marquis o f Tweeddale; and I have great pleasure in introducing to the notice
o f my readers the very interesting species here figured. I t is principally interesting as being an intrusion
of a thoroughly Australian form within the limits of the Indo-Malayan region; for although I follow Lord
Tweeddale in keeping the genus Hyloterpe distinct from the Australian Pachycephala, I must confess that I
have very grave doubts as to the probability of this separation being upheld. In the genus Hyloterpe,
however, the sexes are alike in plumage, whereas in the bulk of the members o f the genus Pachycephala
the males far exceed the females in brilliancy of plumage; in fact, both sexes of Hyloterpe are very like
the females of some o f the Pachycephala.
I cannot do better than quote Lord Tweeddale’s remarks on the species, in his paper on the Birds of
the Philippine Archipelago, to which the bird appears to be confined. I t was first discovered by Dr. A.
B. Meyer in the island of Luzon, and more recently in Dinagat by Mr. Alfred Everett.
“ Dr. Meyers researches in the Philippines have added an additional member o f a genus hitherto not
known to be there represented. The small group of Pachycephaline birds to which the title o f Hyloterpe is
restricted is now known to contain six species. They are entitled to subgeneric distinction. The sexes
are, I believe, alike; and they possess the further peculiarity that they wear, in adult plumage, a sombre
garb recalling the adolescent and the female plumage o f the true blaek-and-yellow Pachy cephalic. This
Philippine species is a representative form of H. sulphuriventris; Walden, ex Celebes. Above, it differs by
its plumage being olive-green, and not brown, and underneath by the yellow extending higher and being
much brighter. The bill is likewise more powerful. Seen from above, H. philippinensis is difficult to
distinguish from H . filw tin cta , Wallace, ex F lo re s ; while, in the same way, H. sulphuriventris closely
resembles H . griseiceps ex N. Guinea. Seen from below, however, the affinities are reversed, the Flores
Hyloterpe showing a great resemblance to that o f Timor, H. orpheus (Ja rd .), and the Celebean and
Philippine species but differing slightly.”
The following is a copy o f Lord Tweeddale’s original description o f the male bird sent by Dr. Meyer:—
“ Feathers of the chin, cheeks, throat, and upper breast silky white, edged more or less with cinereous,
a dingy sordid aspect being thus given to those p a rts ; an indistinct obscure zone crossing the breast and
bordering the upper breast-plumage, consisting of feathers which are dark ashy a t their base, then pure
white, tipped with dirty yellow; the remainder of the under plumage, with the flanks and under tail-coverts,
sulphur-yellow, each feather, however, being iron-grey at the base and then white; entire head dark smoke-
brown, lighter on the ear-coverts; remainder o f upper plumage olive-green, rather darker on the outer
edges of the quills aud on the rectrices; under carpals and axillaries pale lemon-white; tail slightly forked ;
bill horn-brown. Bill from nostrils 0‘32 inch, wing 3 -25, tail 3'12, tarsus 0 -75.”
Mr. Alfred Everett, as before noticed, procured both sexes o f this Hyloterpe on Dinagat, and states that
the iris is dark brown, the bill black, and the legs bluish grey.
My figures are drawn from a pair o f skins from Dinagat, for the loan of which I have to thank Captain
Wardlaw Ramsay. The sexes are represented as o f the size of life.
[R. B. S.]