Part 82

Measurements.--Measurements are listed in table 32.

TABLE 32. MEASUREMENTS OF Halcyon cinnamomina

=====================+==========+==========+=========+=========+======== | | | | Exposed | SUBSPECIES | Number | Wing | Tail | culmen | Tarsus ---------------------+----------+----------+---------+---------+-------- H. c. cinnamomina |31 males | 102 | 77 | 37 | 15 | | (96-105) | (73-83) | (35-39) | (14-17) | | | | | |25 females| 102 | 79 | 38 | 15 | | (99-106) | (74-84) | (35-38) | (14-17) | | | | | H. c. pelewensis | 5 males | 89 | 61 | 39 | 14 | | (88-89) | (58-64) | (38-40) | (13-14) | | | | | | 4 females| 88 | 64 | 39 | 14 | | (88-89) | (61-67) | (38-39) | (13-14) | | | | | H. c. reichenbachii|14 males | 99 | 74 | 41 | 16 | | (96-101) | (72-77) | (39-43) | (16-17) | | | | | |15 females| 100 | 74 | 41 | 16 | | (96-102) | (71-76) | (39-42) | (15-17) ---------------------+----------+----------+---------+---------+--------

Weights.--The NAMRU2 party obtained the following weights: 11 adult males, 56-62 (59); 10 adult females, 58-76 (66).

Specimens examined.--Total number, 72 (40 males, 32 females), as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM--Guam, 38 (Feb. 14, 24, March 8, May 25, 26, 30, June 2, 3, 4, 6, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 28, 29, July 6, 7, 10, 18, 20, Aug. 24, 30, Nov. 19); AMNH--Guam, 34 (Jan., Feb., March, April, July, Aug., Sept., Nov., Dec.).

Nesting.--In 1945, the NAMRU2 party found the kingfisher nesting in the months of March, April, May, and July. Nests were placed in hollows of trees, usually ten or more feet above the ground. On April 3, a nest was found in a banyan tree approximately 25 feet above the ground in a hollow limb. There were two entrances to the nest cavity and both the male and female were observed to feed the young. They did not enter the hollow but placed food in the protruding beaks of the young; the parents and nestling both were exceedingly noisy throughout most of the feeding period. On July 8, McElroy found a nest containing two white eggs, partly incubated, in a cavity of a felled coconut palm at Agfayan Bay.

Molt.--Examination of specimens indicates that the time of molt is irregular or that molting may occur at any time of the year. However, there may be a peak in molting in July, August and September; many of the adult birds taken then show evidence of molting of wing and tail. This is immediately following the period of greatest nesting activity.

Food habits.--The Micronesian Kingfisher at Guam feeds on various kinds of animal life; lizards and insects are the principal items. Of three birds taken on February 14, the stomach of one contained a blue-tailed skink; one contained parts of insects and one contained parts of a gecko. I watched a kingfisher capture and swallow a skink on January 14. The bird remained motionless on its perch until the reptile approached within striking distance. Seale (1901:45) writes that the bird has a bad reputation as a chicken thief. He remarks, "I rather doubted his ability in this line until one day I actually saw him attack a brood of small chicks quite near me, and he would have undoubtedly secured one had not the mother hen rushed to the rescue."

Parasites.--Wharton (1946:174) obtained the chigger (Acarina), Trombicula sp., from the Guam Kingfisher.

Remarks.--In 1820, Quoy and Gaimard (1824:35) obtained five specimens of this kingfisher at Guam and called the bird "Martin-chasseur à têterouse." Kittlitz recorded the bird in March, 1828. Marche obtained a series of 57 skins at Guam in 1887 and 1888; these were sent to the Paris Museum. Sharpe described the female as a separate species in 1892. There is considerable variation in the coloration of adult birds, which is mostly due to fading, as suggested by Hartert (1898:52). Some individuals have the crown feathers much abraided as a result of rubbing the crown against the edge of the nest holes as the birds enter and leave them.

The kingfisher is fairly common at Guam. It is primarily a bird of the forest, preferring particularly the marginal habitats between woodlands and openings. I saw only a few birds in open country; only rarely were birds seen sitting on the telephone lines along the roads. The writer (1947b:124) found that of all the birds frequenting habitat along roadways on Guam, the kingfisher comprised only 1.2 percent. Thus, it can be said that it is not a bird of very conspicuous habits, although its noisy "rattle" may be heard in the day and at night.

=Halcyon cinnamomina pelewensis= Wiglesworth

Micronesian Kingfisher

Halcyon pelewensis Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 15. (Type locality, Pelew Islands.)

Halcyon reichenbachii Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, pp. 4, 118 (Pelew); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 17, 1892, p. 261 (Pelew).

Halcyon cinnamomina Sharpe (part), Monogr. Alced., 1868-'71, pp. xxxii, 213, pl. 30 (Pelew); Tristram (part), Cat. Birds, 1889, p. 92 (Pelew).

Dacelo reichenbachii Schlegel, Mus. Pay-Bas, 3, no. 39, 1874, p. 29 (Pelew).

Halcyon reichenbachi Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 4, 11 (Palau); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 116 (Palau).

Halcyon cinnamominus Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp. 17, 20 (Palau).

Sauropatis cinnamomina Salvadori (part), Ornith. Papuasia, 1, 1880, p. 481 (Pelew).

Halcyon pelewensis Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 53 (Pelew); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 112, 113 (Palau); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 53 (Pelew); Uchida, Annot. Zool. Japan., 9, 1918, p. 483 (Palau).

Halcyon Reichenbachi var. pelewensis Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 186 (Pelew).

Halcyon cinnamominus var? pelewensis Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 108 (Pelew).

Sauropatis reichenbachii pelewensis Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1932, p. 60 (Angaur).

Hyposyma cinnamomina pelewensis Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 385 (Palau).

Halcyon cinnamomina pelewensis Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 180 (Palau); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 200 (Babelthuap, Koror); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 293 (Palau); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 5, 1945, p. 206 (Babelthuap, Koror); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, pp. 63, 64 (Peleliu, Ngabad).

Geographic range.--Micronesia: Palau Islands--Kayangel, Babelthuap, Koror, Garakayo, Ngabad, Angaur.

Characters.--Adult: Resembles adult of H. c. cinnamomina, but smaller and with underparts white; auriculars with less bluish wash; outer webs of outer tail feathers edged with white.