“Adult male.—Similar to C. argentata, but differing in having the breast and sides of body black, washed with ultramarine or purplish blue. ‘Bill black; legs and feet scarlet, the nails brown; iris brown.’ (Worcester.) Length, 127; culmen, 37; wing, 61; tail, 23; tarsus, 10.
“Adult female.—Similar to the male in color. Length, 140; culmen, 37; wing, 58; tail, 22; tarsus, 9.
“The specimen from Leyte is more ultramarine on the breast than those from Samar, which incline to purplish blue; but Steere unites the birds from the two islands, and thus the Leyte specimen in the Museum may be immature, especially as it has the throat and abdomen tinged with buff. This last character Steere considers to be specific, but I feel sure that it is a sign of immaturity.” (Sharpe.)
“We had scant faith in Steere’s C. flumenicola before our return to the Philippines. But one specimen of C. argentata was collected by the Steere Expedition, and that was so shot to pieces that the differences between it and C. flumenicola were not in evidence to any great extent. The examination of a good series of specimens from Mindanao and Basilan has, however, convinced us that the Samar-Leyte birds are quite distinct.
“The blue of the under parts affords the best means of distinguishing the species, being much darker in the northern birds. The under wing-coverts in the southern birds are white; in the northern birds they are almost invariably light buff. All of our specimens from the south have pure white throats, while the northern birds usually have the white of the throat washed with buff. This last character is not of a very satisfactory nature, however, as the northern birds show a great deal of individual variation in this respect. This variation is independent of the sex; nor does it seem to be, as Dr. Sharpe thinks, a sign of immaturity, young birds in some cases having very little of the color. C. flumenicola is always found along the wooded banks of streams where it perches over the water.
“Iris very dark brown; legs and feet bright scarlet; nails usually blackish; bill black. Food, in one case, small crabs. Eight males measure, 136 in length; wing, 56; tail, 23; culmen, 36; tarsus, 8; middle toe with claw, 20. Five females measure, 139 in length; wing, 57; tail, 23; culmen, 34; tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw, 16.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
274. ALCYONE NIGRIROSTRIS (Bourns and Worcester).
BLACK-BILLED KINGFISHER.
- Ceyx nigrirostris Bourns and Worcester, Minnesota Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 13; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 54.
- Alcyone nigrirostris Mcgregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 53.
Cebu (Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead); Panay (Bourns & Worcester).