310 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



273. ALCYONE FLUMENICOLA (Steele). 

 STEERE'S RIVER KINGFISHER. 



Ceyx flumenicola Steere, List. Birds & Mams. Steere Exped. (1890), 10. 

 Ceyx fluminicola Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 187; Hand-List 



(1900). 2, 53. 

 Alcyone fluminicola McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906). 53. 



Leyte (Everett, Steere Exp., Whitehead) ; Samar {Steere Exp.. Bourn.'! rf 

 Worcester, Whitehead). 



"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 Basi- 

 lan 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 satis- 

 factory 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. Sliarpe thinks, a sign of immaturity, 

 young birds in some cases having very little of the color. C. flumenicola 

 is always found along tlie 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 meas- 

 ure, 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. 



