HALCYON. 321 



brown. Six males measure, 28'^ in length; wing, 122; tail, 81; eulmen, 

 64; tarsus, 1-i; middle toe with elaw, 25." {Bourns and Worcester MS.) 

 A large number of white-throated kingfishers nested in the banks of 

 the Baco River, Mindoro, during our stay at Balete in April, 1905, while 

 other pairs excavated holes in masses of earth held among the roots of 

 overturned trees. 



283. HALCYON PILEATUS (Boddaert). 

 BLACK-CAPPED KINGFISHER. 



Alcedo pileaia Boddaert, Tabl. PI. EnL (1783), 4L 



Halcyon pileatus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 229; Hand- 

 List (1900), 2, 57; Gates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1903), 3, 38; 

 McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 54". 



Halcyon pileata Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1895), 3, 132, fig. 37 

 ( head ) . 



Balabac {Steere, Steere Exp., Everett); Basilan (titeere Exp.); Palawan 

 (Whitehead, Platen, Bourns tf- Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns <& Worcester). 

 Ceylon, Malay Peninsula, southern India to Canara, Indo-Chinese countries to 

 China and north to Korea, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes. 



"Adult male. — General color above purplish blue on the mantle and 

 scapulars, the center of the back and nimp brighter and nuu'e purplish 

 cobalt; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers purplish blue, the latter black- 

 ish 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 wel)s ; 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, extend- 

 ing down the center of the breast; sides of the latter, tianks, abdomen, 

 and under tail-coverts, under wing-coverts, and axillars rich orange-buff; 

 quills below black, with a broad white l)and across the l)ase. 'Bill deep 

 red; mouth pale red; eyelids pinkish plumbeous, covered with white 

 feathers, except on the edges, where they are black ; feet dark red, brown- 

 ish in front of the tarsus; claws dark liorn-color; iris dark brown." 

 (Oates.) Length, 279 ; eulmen, (Jl ; wing, 127 ; tail, 86 ; tarsus, 14. 



"Adult female. — Does not differ in color from the male. Length, 279 : 

 eulmen, 61; wing, 130; tail, 76; tarsus, 13. 



"Young birds have dusky blackish fringes to the feathers of the tireast." 

 (Sharpe.) 



"Common in Balabac, but very rare in Tawi Tawi and Basilan. The 

 single Tawi Tawi specimen obtained was shot in the lianana trees al)out 

 our house on the very day of our dej^arture, and must liave been a 

 straggler. Bill scarlet; iris very dark i)rown ; \e^^!^ and t'eet dark red; 

 nails l)lack." (Bourns and Worcester MS.) 

 77719 21 



