BLUE-BREASTED KINGFISHER.
- Ceyx cyanopectus Lafresnaye, Rev. Zool. (1840), 33; McGregor, Bur. Govt. Labs. (1905), 25, 13, pl. 10.
- Ceyx cyanipectus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 185; Hand-List (1900), 2, 53; Bourns and Worcester, Ibis (1895), 404; Minnesota Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 48.
- Ceyx steerii Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 187.
- Alcyone cyanipectus Grant, Ibis (1895), 112, 464; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 385.
- Alcyone cyanopectus McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 52.
Sal-pac′, Ticao and Masbate.
Luzon (Cuming, Heriot, Möllendorff, Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Ticao (McGregor).
Male.—Lores orange-chestnut; sides of face, crown, and occiput deep blue, the feathers tipped with silvery cobalt; back, rump, and tail-coverts silvery cobalt; scapulars black, widely edged with dark blue; wings black, secondaries edged with dark blue; secondary-coverts dark blue, each feather with a spot of silvery cobalt; a large spot of orange-chestnut on side of neck; throat orange-chestnut, much paler on chin; middle of abdomen and a large spot on center of breast orange-chestnut; rest of under parts deep ultramarine-blue and forming two bands across the breast; axillars and wing-lining orange-chestnut; tail dark blue. A male from Mindoro measures: Length, 145; wing, 60; tail, 23; exposed culmen, 35.
Female.—Similar to the male, but all the lower parts deep orange-chestnut except the pale throat and a single dark blue band across the breast. A female from Mindoro measures: Length, 152; wing, 61; tail, 23; exposed culmen, 35.
“We found A. cyanopectus abundantly in Masbate. In Sibuyan it was much more rare. It is to be found along the banks of small fresh-water streams, which it is extremely loath to leave. In Sibuyan one specimen was seen in a mangrove swamp. We never met with it away from water. Legs, feet, and nails scarlet; upper mandible black, lower red; food (in one case) fish.
“Eight males average, 138 in length; wing, 58; tail, 22; culmen, 39; tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw, 17. Seven females average, 142 in length; wing, 60; tail, 22; tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw, 17; culmen, 39.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)