Part 85

Remarks.--The White-collared Kingfisher at Palau is a showy and conspicuous bird. It cannot be classed as a forest bird but seems to prefer openings and marginal woodlands. Its range does not overlap that of the secretive and inconspicuous H. cinnamomina pelewensis, which prefers the denser forests. In 1945, the NAMRU2 party found H. c. teraokai to be numerous in the cleared battle areas at Peleliu and Angaur. A favorite perch of this bird was the telephone lines, from which a number of our specimens were shot. Usually the bird was observed singly; occasionally two birds were found together. A pair was seen in copulation on August 29. The call of this bird, a loud and harsh rattle, is noticeably different from the low rasping note of H. c. pelewensis. Coultas found H. c. teraokai to be numerous in 1931. He comments (field notes) that the bird frequents salt water areas, especially the mangrove swamps. He noted the bird fishing at the outer reef.

=Halcyon chloris orii= Takatsukasa and Yamashina

White-collared Kingfisher

Halcyon chloris orii Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 43, 1931, p. 484. (Type locality, Rota.)

Halcyon albicillus Sharpe (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 17, 1892, p. 249 (Marianne = Rota).

Halcyon albicilla Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 169 (Rota); Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 53 (Rota).

Sauropatis albicillus Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 58 (Rota).

Halcyon chloris orii] Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 180 (Rota); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 200 (Rota, Saipan as straggler); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 293 (Rota); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 5, 1945, p. 210 (Rota); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 64 (Rota).

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

Characters.--Adult: Resembles H. c. teraokai, but loral spot larger and more buffy; occiput lightly streaked with white and white line above eye; top of head and back more oily green and less blue, darker in female.

Immature: Resembles adult, but underparts and loral spot buffy with dusky edges; feathers of forehead tipped with buff; remainder of upper parts slightly darker.

Measurements.--Measurements are listed in table 33.

Weights.--The author (1948:64) lists the weights of two adult females as 84 and 85.

Specimens examined.--Total number, 11 (4 males, 6 females, 1 unsexed), from Mariana Islands, USNM--Rota (Oct. 18, 19, 22, 26, Nov. 2).

Molt.--The 11 specimens taken by the NAMRU2 party at Rota in October and November are in molt.

Remarks.--The kingfisher at Rota was taken by Marche in June and July, 1888, and reported by Oustalet (1895:169). It was taken later by the Japanese and described by Takatsukasa and Yamashina as a new subspecies. Apparently, no other specimens were taken until the NAMRU party visited Rota in October and November, 1945, and obtained 11 skins. The bird is conspicuous and common at Rota.

The color characters of white feathers intermingled with the bluish coloring of the crown and the occiput and the large, whitish loral spot place this subspecies as intermediate between H. c. teraokai and the two subspecies known from the more northern Marianas.

=Halcyon chloris albicilla= (Dumont)

White-headed Kingfisher

Alcedo albicilla Dumont, Dict. Sci. Nat., éd. Levrault, 29, 1823, p. 273. (Type locality, Marianne = Tinian.)

Alcedo albicilla Pucheran, Rev. et Mag. Zool., 1853, p. 388 (Marianne = Tinian); Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1855, p. 423 (Mariannen = Tinian); Cassin, U. S. Expl. Exped. 1838-'42, 1858, p. 225 (Mariannes = Tinian).

Todiramphus albicilla Reichenbach, Syn. Avium, Alcedineae, 1851, p. 30 (Mariannen = Tinian).

Halcyon albicilla Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 167 (Mariannen = Tinian); Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 5 (Ladrone or Marian Islands = Tinian); Gray (part), Hand-list Birds, 1, 1869, p. 93 (Mariannes = Tinian); Oustalet, Le Nat., 1889, p. 260, (Saypan); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 14 (Marianne = Tinian); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 169 (Saypan); Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 52 (Saipan); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 112, 113, 114 (Saipan); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 45 (Saipan).

Dacelo albicilla Giebel (part), Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 1 (Marianne = Tinian).

Sauropatis albicilla Salvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 1, 1880, p. 470 (Marianne = Tinian).

Halcyon albicillus Sharpe (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 17, 1892, p. 249 (Marianne = Saipan).

Halcyon saurophagus Schnee, Zeitschr. f. Naturwisch., 82, 1912, p. 463 (Saipan).

Sauropatis albicillus Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 58 (Saipan).