Part 122

"Iris very dark brown; bill, legs, and feet scarlet. Food shrimps and insects, in one case small lizard and crabs. Eighteen specimens average as follows: Length, 140; wing, 58; tail, 24; culmen, 37; tarsus, 8; middle toe with claw, 16." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

279. CEYX BOURNSI Steere.

BOURNS'S KINGFISHER.

Ceyx bournsi Steere, List Birds & Mams. Steere Exped. (July, 1890), 10; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 185; Hand-List (1900), 2, 53; Bourns and Worcester, Minnesota Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 47; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 53. Ceyx malamaui Steere, List Birds & Mams. Steere Exped. (1890), 10; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 184. Ceyx suluensis Blasius, Jour. für Orn. (August, 1890), 141. Ceyx margarethæ Blasius, Jour. für Orn. (August, 1890), 141.

Banton (Celestino); Basilan (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Cebu (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Mindanao (Steere Exp., Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester, Everett).

Adult (sexes similar).--Above, sides of head and neck, and wings ultramarine to silvery cobalt-blue; having a more or less spotted appearance on head; lores and under parts orange-rufous, but chin, throat, and middle of abdomen white or with a pale yellow wash; alula, primaries, and primary-coverts black; edge of wing and outer web of first alula-quill and of first primary rufous; tail blue, darker than back and coverts. In a male from Banton the wing is 68; tail, 26; culmen from base, 39; tarsus, 10.

"Young.--Similar to the adult, but less brilliant and with a duller red bill; the head, scapulars, and wing-coverts black, with blue ends to the feathers; the blue of the back lighter than in the adult, and inclining to cobalt on the lower back; loral spot as large as in the adult." (Sharpe.)

This species exists under a number of plumages some of which have been described as separate species. Bourns and Worcester have collected a great number of specimens which show that these variations can not be specific. In part they say:

"We find that we must either multiply the number of small blue woods Ceyces from the Philippines indefinitely or reduce the above-mentioned species [C. bournsi, malamaui, suluensis, and margarethæ] to one. It would be an almost endless task to describe the different phases of plumage shown and we will only say that we have a practically unbroken series between a bird with a magnificent deep blue upper surface and a bird with a fine silvery white upper surface which has not a blue feather on it. In the latter specimens the white occupies exactly the position of the blue in the specimens first mentioned.

"Our series shows that these extraordinary differences of color are independent of sex, age, or locality, some young birds are very light, others very dark. In one case where parent and offspring were killed at one discharge of the gun they exhibited marked differences in color.

"The amount of blue or white is, however, dependent on age to some extent, the young birds always showing much more black on the upper surface than do adults. In the young the bill is at first black tipped with pale horn and the legs and feet are pale flesh-color.

"Ceyx bournsi is a strictly woods form and its shy habits doubtless explain its having been so generally missed by collectors." (Bourns and Worcester.)

"Found in precisely the same locality as C. mindanensis and in company with it in the Islands of Mindanao and Basilan. Food the same as that of C. mindanensis.

"When one has learned its note and habits it may be secured without great trouble. It always gives a shrill 'cheep' just before taking wing, and repeats the same note at frequent intervals during flight. It flies with great rapidity, but usually for a short distance, when it alights on some branch, stump, or stone, where it sits perfectly still. It is a bird of extremely local habits, and displays great reluctance to leave the thicket to which it is accustomed. If pursued it usually flies in a circle, soon returning to the place from which it started, continuing to follow about the same course until the hunter either shoots it or gives up the attempt. When its route has been once learned, two men can easily bring it down, one driving it while the other waits near one of its favorite resting places. In this way we secured a considerable number of our specimens. We believe that this species never 'fishes' in the streams.

"Iris dark brown; bill, legs, feet, and nails scarlet in adults, growing paler in immature birds. Very young birds have the bill black, with a whitish horn tip. Food, insects, larvæ and worms.

"Six males from Tawi Tawi measure as follows: Length, 140; wing, 64; tail, 25; culmen, 38; tarsus, 8; middle toe with claw, 16. Four females from Tawi Tawi: Length, 141; wing, 64; tail, 24; culmen, 37; tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw, 17.

"Five males from Tablas measure: Length, 146; wing, 65; tail, 25; culmen, 36; tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw, 17. Four females from Tablas: Length, 145; wing, 66; tail, 25; tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw, 22; culmen, 36.

"We have given measurements of birds taken at the extremes of the range of the species. It will be seen that the northern birds are slightly longer. As stated in our preliminary notes, the color of the dorsal surface of this bird varies from deep indigo-blue to pure silvery white, and this variation is independent of age, sex, or locality." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

280. CEYX GOODFELLOWI Grant.

GOODFELLOW'S KINGFISHER.

Ceyx goodfellowi Grant, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. (1905), 16, 17; Ibis (1906), 6, 492.

Mindanao (Goodfellow).

"Adult male.--Most nearly allied to C. malamaui Steere [=bournsi], but the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts are of a brilliant ultramarine-blue, tinged with cobalt on the middle of the lower back and rump; the feathers of the crown and nape are also tipped with much of the same brilliant color; the wing-coverts and scapulars like those of C. malamaui, are of a deep purplish blue. 'Iris dark brown; bill, feet, and nails bright vermilion.' (Goodfellow.) Length, 127; wing, 63; tail, 22; culmen, 39; tarsus, 10." (Grant.)

This species, described from a single specimen, is doubtfully distinct from Ceyx bournsi.

Genus HALCYON Swainson, 1821.

Bill large; culmen from base less than tail, rounded not flattened; birds of medium size and various bright colors. The species here included in Halcyon are by some authors assigned to at least three genera but, other than their style of coloration, the genera Sauropatis and Callialcyon seem to have no tangible characters. Halcyon hombroni, lindsayi, and moseleyi stand apart from the other Philippine species of the genus because of their short stout bill, longer tail, and peculiar spotted plumage. The genus Actenoides might be used for these three species.

Species.

a1. Scapulars and wing-coverts unspotted.