( 52 ) 



4. Halcyon albicilla Dumont (Onst. I. p. 169). 



This species was not found on Guam by any collectors, but we received a large 

 series from Saipan. Marche found it ou Saipan, Rota, Pagan, and Agrigan. Local 

 name on Saipan : " Shiihii.'' Maxilla black, mandible white with blackish tip ; iris 

 dark, III. 8 (" burnt umber ") ; legs and toes III. 1 (" seal-brown ") ; claws II. 3 

 (blackish slate). Wiug 114— 118 mm. 



The head seems to be pure white in very old indiv-idnals only, but the majority 

 of specimens have some dark greenish blue longitudinal spots on the crown, and 

 the young birds have more or less developed buffy white edges on the upper 

 wing-coverts. 



The species is easily distinguished from H. sauropkaga Gould, which has so 

 often been called //. albicilla, by the smaller size and the greenish blue line encircling 

 the nape. An egg was found in a hole of a tree on Saipan July 31st, 1895. It 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. 



o. Halcyon cinnamomina Swains. (Onst. I. p. 175). 



Halcyon cinnamomina Swains., Zoitl. Illustr. Ser. I. Vol. II. pi. 67 (1821). 

 H. rufigularis Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XVII. p. 260 ( ? ). 



Local name: " Shiihii." 



<J ad. Neck and head and entire under surface cinnamon, a little paler on the 

 throat. In quite freshly moulted specimens the cinnamon is very dark, but it fades 

 in the breeding time. Ear-coverts black, more or less washed and mixed with blue; 

 a narrow black line from the right ear-covert to the left, round the nape. Back, 

 scapulars, and small upper wing-coverts near the bend deep blue-green, more green 

 if viewed with the light from above. Inner webs of wing-qnills black ; tail, outer 

 webs of wiug-quills, upper wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts blue ; rump 

 more vivid, like " cerulean blue " of Ridgway, PI. IX. fig. 21 ; tail and wing deeper 

 blue, and all these blue parts more greenish in a certain light and if the bird is 

 in abraded plumage. Iris, Ridgw. lU. 8, dark (burnt umber) ; bill black, basal 

 part whitish ; legs and feet II. 11 (mouse-grey) ; claws II. 3 (blackish slate). 



? ad. Throat a little paler than in the male; breast, abdomen, under tail- and 

 under wing-coverts white. Bare parts as in (?; legs and feet II. 13 (drab grey). 

 The hind-neck is cinnamon in some examples, but almost pure white in others, 

 apparently older ones. 



Juv. Crown mixed with greenish blue ; upper wing-coverts bordered with pale 

 cinnamon. One sjjecimen, marked ?, shot on Guam ou December 2Sth, lb94, has 

 the breast and abdomen buffy white, mixed with cinnamon, some whitish feathers 

 on the throat, under wing-coverts pale cinnamon. The colour of head and upper 

 wing-coverts shows it to be a young bird. 



Total length about 9—10 inches; wiug MO — los, culmen 45—40, tail 80 — S5 mm. 



More than thirty sexed skins and a special note of the collectors prove beyond 

 donbt that Sharpe's supposed " subspecies " (from an unknown place) //. rufigularis 

 is the female of the cinnamon-bellied male. This observation is not at all new, for 

 Kittlitz, Reise II. p. 132, where also excellent field notes are given, has already 

 correctly described the colour of both sexes, and also the markings of the head in 

 immature birds. Finsch has afterwards made the same observation {.Totirn. Mut. 



