“Adult male.—General color above purplish blue on the mantle and scapulars, the center of the back and rump brighter and more purplish cobalt; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers purplish blue, the latter blackish along the inner webs and having black shafts; wing-coverts black; alula, primary-coverts, and outer aspect of quills purplish blue, the latter blackish at the ends, and with broad white bases to the inner webs; crown, sides of face, and ear-coverts black, as well as the base of the cheeks; round the hind neck a broad white collar; cheeks and throat white, extending down the center of the breast; sides of the latter, flanks, abdomen, and under tail-coverts, under wing-coverts, and axillars rich orange-buff; quills below black, with a broad white band across the base. ‘Bill deep red; mouth pale red; eyelids pinkish plumbeous, covered with white feathers, except on the edges, where they are black; feet dark red, brownish in front of the tarsus; claws dark horn-color; iris dark brown.’ (Oates.) Length, 279; culmen, 61; wing, 127; tail, 86; tarsus, 14.
“Adult female.—Does not differ in color from the male. Length, 279; culmen, 61; wing, 130; tail, 76; tarsus, 13.
“Young birds have dusky blackish fringes to the feathers of the breast.” (Sharpe.)
“Common in Balabac, but very rare in Tawi Tawi and Basilan. The single Tawi Tawi specimen obtained was shot in the banana trees about our house on the very day of our departure, and must have been a straggler. Bill scarlet; iris very dark brown; legs and feet dark red; nails black.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
284. HALCYON WINCHELLI Sharpe.
WINCHELL’S KINGFISHER.
- Halcyon winchelli Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1876), 1, 318, pl. 47; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 255; Hand-List (1900), 2, 58; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 54.
- Halcyon alfredi Oustalet, Le Natur. (1890), 62.
Basilan (Steere, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Cebu (Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Everett, Koch & Schadenberg, Goodfellow, Celestino); Negros (Whitehead); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Steere Exp.); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Everett, Bourns & Worcester).
Male.—Above, including wings and tail, deep blue; lores and a narrow collar on hind neck chestnut; a band of light blue extending backward from above eye and joining its fellow across nape; back, rump, and central tail-coverts light silvery blue; sides of head and a small patch on each side of breast dark blue; lower parts white; primaries and alula black, remainder of wing-feathers edged with blue; tail blue above, black below. Bill black, except under part of lower mandible which is white near base; feet greenish drab; nails black. Length of a male from Basilan, 255; wing, 103; tail, 75; culmen from base, 57; tarsus, 14.
Female.—Above similar to the male but blacker because of the greater restriction of blue on each feather; chestnut collar much wider; below white, washed to a greater or less extent with fawn, heaviest on breast, usually wanting on middle of abdomen. Length of a female from Basilan, 255; wing, 102; tail, 75; culmen from base, 54; bill from nostril, 46.