Adult.—Forehead and crown greenish blue, set off by a black line which begins at lores, passes under eye to ear-coverts and meets its fellow on hind neck; this followed by a white collar; a spot of white behind each nostril; wings, back, rump, and tail blue; scapulars greenish blue like crown; rump and upper tail-coverts lighter and bluer; tail, primaries, and secondaries deeper blue; under parts all white; tail and wings blackish; wing-lining and axillars white; sexes alike in color. Iris dark brown; bill black except a wedge-shaped space on lower mandible which is pale yellow or dirty white. A male from Cagayancillo measures: Length, 240; wing, 105; tail, 70; culmen from base, 50; tarsus, 13. A female from Bohol: Length, 246; wing, 107; tail, 71; culmen from base, 52; tarsus, 15; middle toe with claw, 27.

Young.—Immature birds have the feathers of breast, sides of neck and breast, and sometimes the white collar, edged with black or dusky brown forming crescentic marks on the breast.

“The commonest of Philippine kingfishers. Frequently observed perching on native houses in villages and very common in coconut groves. Not infrequently found fishing along small fresh-water streams in the open, less common along wooded streams. Especially abundant in mangrove swamps and along the seashore. The usual native name is ‘tick-a-rool’.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

286. HALCYON HOMBRONI (Bonaparte).
HOMBRON’S KINGFISHER.

Mindanao (Hombron & Jacquinot, Steere, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow, Celestino).

“Adult male.—Head and nape bright blue, more brilliant on the sides of the head, above the eye, and on the nape; round the latter a narrow line of deep black; ear-coverts chestnut; along the lower line of the lores a streak of black, reaching below the eye, and widening behind the latter, being here washed with blue; cheeks bright blue, forming a broad band; sides of neck and hinder part of the latter deep tawny, varied with narrow black edgings to the feathers; mantle blackish, mottled with spots of tawny-buff, these being subterminal, with a narrow fringe of black; center of back, scapulars, and wing-coverts green, with a slight shade of verditer, each feather having a distinct subterminal spot of ochraceous-buff; quills blackish, externally washed with greenish, the primaries edged with ochraceous, the secondaries with the same subterminal spot of ochraceous as on the wing-coverts; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts bright silvery cobalt, the sides of the back and the lateral coverts blackish, washed with blue; tail-feathers deep blue, with black shafts; throat white, slightly washed with tawny; rest of the under surface deep tawny, whiter on the center of the abdomen; breast-feathers with narrow, nearly obsolete, blackish margins; thighs externally blackish, internally deep tawny; feathers at side of vent, adjoining the sides of the lower back, deep blue, the outer web more or less ochraceous; under wing-coverts and axillars deep tawny; quills blackish below, edged with pale tawny-buff along the inner web. Length, 287; culmen, 51; wing, 126; tail, 105; tarsus, 19.” (Sharpe.)

Female.—Similar to the male but crown and cheek-band greenish; the greenish wash on wings very faint; tail faintly washed with green instead of blue.

“A strictly woods form, never met with in the open. Quite common in Mindanao, and so far as is at present known, confined to that island.