Part 86

Leucalcyon albicilla albicilla Mathews (part), Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 376 (Saipan).

Halcyon chloris albicilla, Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 180 (Saipan, Tinian); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 200 (Saipan, Tinian, Yap?); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 293 (Saipan, Tinian); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 5, 1945, p. 210 (Saipan, Tinian); Downs, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 49, 1946, p. 97 (Tinian); Stott, Auk, 64, 1947, p. 526 (Saipan).

Geographic range.--Micronesia: Mariana Islands--Saipan, Tinian.

Characters.--Adult: Resembles H. c. teraokai, but slightly larger; pileum white; white collar broad; black band on nape narrow and faint in some individuals; back and scapulars more oily green and less blue.

Immature: Resembles adult, but pileum pale buff streaked with bluish-green; back and scapulars darker; upper wing-coverts edged with white; breast feathers edged with dusky black.

Measurements.--Measurements are listed in table 33.

Specimens examined.--Total number, 20 (12 males, 8 females), as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM--Saipan, 1 (Sept. 27)--Tinian, 4 (Oct. 18, 23, 26); AMNH--Saipan, 11 (July 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, August 5, 21, 26)--Tinian, 4 (Sept. 7, 8, 10).

Nesting.--Hartert (1898:42) records an egg found in a hole of a tree at Saipan on July 31, 1895. He writes that the egg "is only slightly glossy, very thin, pure white, but soiled all over with deep brown spots, evidently from the decaying wood in the nest hole. It measures 33:25 mm."

Molt.--Most of the birds taken in July, August, September, and October are in molt.

Remarks.--Quoy and Gaimard, who visited the Marianas while on the expedition in the "Uranie," obtained this kingfisher at Tinian. Additional material was taken by Marche in 1887 at Saipan and by Owston's Japanese collectors in 1895. In 1932, Coultas (field notes) found the bird to be common on both Tinian and Saipan, especially in open country. At Saipan, Stott (1947:526) found the birds as singles or in pairs on wooded hillsides. At Tinian, Gleise (1945:220) estimated the population in 1945 as 150.

The completely white head in H. c. albicilla closely resembles that in H. s. saurophaga Gould of Melanesia. These two species resemble each other in several other respects. H. saurophaga is smaller than H. chloris with black or greenish blue on the anterior part of the ear-coverts and the color of the back, wings, and tail is more greenish. The presence of both H. saurophaga and H. chloris on the same islands in Melanesia is an indication that the two groups are specifically distinct.

=Halcyon chloris owstoni= Rothschild

White-collared Kingfisher

Halcyon owstoni Rothschild, Bull. British Ornith. Club, 15, 1904, p. 6. (Type locality, Asuncion.)

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

Halcyon albicilla Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, pp. 169, 170 (Pagan, Agrigan); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 52 (Pagan, Agrigan).

Sauropatis chloris owstoni Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 59 (Asuncion).

Leucalcyon albicilla owstoni Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 376 (Asuncion).

Halcyon chloris owstoni Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 43, 1931, p. 484 (Asuncion); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 180 (Asuncion); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 200 (Assongsong, Pagan, Almagan); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 293 (Almagan, Pagan, Agrigan, Asuncion); Peters, Checklist Birds World, 5, 1945, p. 209 (Asuncion, Pagan, Alamagan); Borror, Auk, 64, 1947, p. 417 (Agrigan).

Geographic range.--Micronesia: Mariana Islands--Asuncion, Agrigan, Pagan, Almagan.

Characters.--Adult: Resembles H. c. albicilla, but hind part of crown blue-green and black collar broader.

Immature: Resembles adult, but forehead buffy and edges of feathering on anterior crown, upper wing-coverts, and tips of secondaries brownish.

Measurements.--Measurements are listed in table 33.

Specimens examined.--Total number, 4 (2 males, 1 female, 1 unsexed), as follows: Mariana Islands, AMNH--Asuncion, 4 (Jan., July).

Remarks.--Marche obtained specimens of this bird at Pagan in November, 1887, and at Agrigan in December, 1888, and in February, 1889. Owston's Japanese collectors obtained birds at Asuncion in 1904, which were named as new by Rothschild. Apparently he used an immature specimen in preparing the diagnosis of his new subspecies. Borror (1947:417) visited Agrigan in 1945 and obtained specimens of this kingfisher. He reports that the bird is a "common and abundant species and probably nests on the island."

Evolutionary history of Halcyon chloris in Micronesia.--Halcyon chloris is distributed from eastern Africa at the Red Sea eastward through southern Asia to Malaysia, Australia and the Pacific islands. Peters (1945:207-213) recognized 47 subspecies within this species.

In its colonization of Micronesia, H. chloris apparently arrived first at the Palaus probably from the Philippines or the Moluccas. Whether H. cinnamomina was established at Palau prior to the arrival of H. chloris is unknown. H. chloris teraokai dominates most of the available habitats at Palau, although it has differentiated but little from subspecies to the west and southwest of Palau. Among named kinds it most closely resembles H. c. chloris (Boddaert) of the Moluccas, Lesser Sundas and adjacent areas in color and structure. The species did not succeed in establishing itself in the Carolines or at Guam, but did so in the Marianas at Rota and northward. In comparison with other subspecies of H. chloris those in the Marianas are characterized by a slight increase in size and a replacement of the bluish-green coloring of the head either partly or wholly by white. It is noteworthy that on the islands of Tinian and Saipan, which occupy a geographically intermediate position in the Mariana chain, the bird has an almost completely white head, whereas the birds on islands to the north and south have only partly white heads.

The geographic ranges of H. chloris and H. cinnamomina in Micronesia overlap only at Palau as shown by Mayr (1942b:181). Even here each is restricted to a different habitat. Possibly the present ranges resulted from competition between each group, and both may have had more extensive ranges in Micronesia in the past. Another possibility is that the original stock of H. chloris arrived in Micronesia via the Palaus and that of H. cinnamomina via Ponapé (eastern Carolinas), and that the resulting successful colonizations were a matter of chance. If this were the case the present day ranges may represent the total amount of dispersal that has taken place. The absence of kingfishers from Kusaie, Yap, Truk and other apparently suitable islands favors this possibility.