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The Avifauna of Micronesia, Its Origin, Evolution, and Distribution · Rollin H. Baker — chapter 81 of 144 · ~905 words · public domain

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Geographic range.--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Ponapé.

Characters.--Adult: According to Mayr (1936:12), "Very similar to inquieta, but much smaller; on the upper parts apparently somewhat less glossy, and not so dark, more brownish; under parts very variable, sometimes very dark (partly on account of greasing), sometimes quite silvery on the throat; very dark specimens show some greenish gloss not only on the longest under tail-coverts, but also on the entire under side, except on the throat; rump of the same color as the back; tarsus unfeathered."

Measurements.--Measurements are listed in table 31.

Specimens examined.--Total number, 37 (19 males, 18 females) from Caroline Islands, AMNH--Ponapé (Nov., Dec.).

Nesting.--Coultas obtained young birds from nests in caves in November and December.

Remarks.--I am following Mayr (1937:11) and Peters (1940:225) in this treatment of these Caroline swiftlets, even though the differences between C. inquieta and C. vanikorensis appear to be slight indeed. C. inquieta appears closest to the forms of C. vanikorensis in Northern Melanesia. The birds found in New Guinea and the Solomons are similar in size to the birds in the Carolines, while those in the Moluccas, Admiralties and Lihir are larger. Color differences are slight with the pale color of the sides of the head and underparts being variable. All of these dark-rumped birds evidently evolved in the Melanesian area.

=Halcyon cinnamomina cinnamomina= Swainson

Micronesian Kingfisher

Halcyon cinnamomina Swainson, Zool. Illustr., 2, 1821, text to pl. 67. (No type locality = Guam.)

Halcyon cinnamomina Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 167 (Marianen = Guam); Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 5 (Ladrone or Marian Islands = Guam); Sharpe (part), Monogr. Alced., 1868-71, pp. xxxii, 213, pl. 80 (Guam); Gray, Hand-list Birds, 1, 1869, p. 93 (Mariannes = Guam); Oustalet, Le Nat., 1889, p. 260 (Mariannes = Guam); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 16 (Guam); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 175 (Guam); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 53 (Guam); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 112, 113, 114 (Guam); Wharton, Ecol. Monogr., 16, 1946, p. 174 (Guam); Strophlet, Auk, 63, 1946, p. 538 (Guam); Baker, Condor, 49, 1947, p. 125 (Guam).

Alcedo ruficeps Dumont, Dict. Sci. Nat., 29, 1823, p. 273 (Mariannes = Guam); Pucheran, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 1853, p. 387 (Mariannes = Guam); Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1855, p. 423 (Mariannen = Guam).

Dacela ruficeps Lesson, Traité d'Ornith., 1831, p. 247 (Mariannes = Guam).

Halcyon cinnamomeus Kittlitz, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 304 (Guahan).

Dacelo cinnamomina Kittlitz, Denkw. Reise russ. Amer. Micron. und Kamchat., 2, 1858, p. 131 (Guahan); Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, 3, no. 17, 1863, p. 39; no. 39, 1874, p. 29 (Mariannes = Guam); Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 3 (Mariannae = Guam).

Todiramphus cinnamominus Cassin, U. S. Expl. Exped. 1838-'42, 1858, pp. 220, 225 (Ladrone or Marianna Islands = Guam).

Sauropatis cinnamomina Cabanis, Mus. Hein., 2, 1859-'60, p. 159 (Marianen); Salvadori (part), Ornith. Papuasia, 1, 1880, p. 481 (Marianne = Guam).

Halcyon cinnamominus Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp. 17, 20 (Marianen = Guam); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 17, 1892, p. 259 (Marianne = Guam); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 45 (Guam); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 69 (Guam); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 108 (Guam); Safford, The Plant World, 7, 1904, p. 263 (Guam); idem, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905, p. 79 (Guam); Mearns, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 36, 1909, p. 476 (Guam); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 116 (Marianen = Guam); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 63 (Mariannes = Guam); Cox, Islands of Guam, 1917, p. 21 (Guam); Thompson, Guam and its people, 1942, p. 23 (Guam).

Halcyon rufigularis Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 17, 1892, p. 260 (No type locality = Guam).

Halcyon cinnamanea Wheeler, Report Island of Guam, 1900, p. 12 (Guam).

Halcyon cinnamonius Prowazek, Die deutschen Marianen, 1913, p. 102 (Marianen = Guam).

Souropatis cinnamominus Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 59 (Guam).

Hyposyma cinnamomina Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 384 (Marianne = Guam).

Halcyon cinnamomina cinnamomina Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 179 (Guam); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 200 (Guam); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 293 (Guam); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 5, 1945, p. 206 (Guam); Watson, The Raven, 17, 1946, p. 41 (Guam); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 63 (Guam).

Halcyon cinnamomius Bryan, Guam, Rec., vol. 13, no. 2, 1936, p. 25 (Guam).

Geographic range.--Micronesia: Mariana Islands--Guam.

Characters.--Adult male: Head, neck, upper back, and entire under surface near "Sanford's brown"; auriculars black with bluish wash; narrow black line extending around nape; orbital ring black; lower back, lesser wing-coverts, and scapulars deep greenish-blue; outer webs of wing feathers and tail blue; rump resembles tail but slightly lighter; under wing-coverts greenish-blue; feet dark brown; bill black, base of mandible paler; iris dark brown.

Adult female: Resembles adult male, but chin, throat, and upper breast paler; rest of underparts and under wing-coverts white; a few cinnamon-tipped feathers on tibia and at bend of wing; back and scapulars darker olive-green and less blue.

Immature: Resembles adult, but brown of crown mixed with greenish-blue; back and wing-coverts edged with pale cinnamon; chin and throat whitish; rest of underparts buffy-white in male and paler in female; feathers on breast and nape with dark edgings.

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