324 MANUAL OF rillLimXE BIKDS. 



open, less common along wooded streams. Especially atmndant in man- 

 grove swamps and along the seashore. The usual native name is 'tick-a- 

 rool'." {Bourns mid ll'o/v cs/fr MS.) 



286. HALCYON HOMBRONI (Bonaparte). 



HOMBRON'S KINGFISHER. 



Actcnoides hombroni Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Avium (1850). 1, 157. 

 Halcyon hombrani Shakpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 284; Iland- 

 List (1900), 2, 61; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 55. 



Mindanao {Homhron tf Jacquinot, Steere, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns d Wor- 

 cester, GoodfelloiD, 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 ])ehind the latter, 

 being here washed with blue; cheeks bright blue, forming a t)road band; 

 sides of neck and hinder part of the latter deep tawny, varied with narrow 

 black edgings to the feathers; uuintle 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, externallv 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 !)right 

 silvery cobalt, the sides of the back and the lateral coverts blackish, 

 washed with blue; tail-feathers deep ])lue, witli 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 wel). Length, 2S7 ; culnien. .")] ; wing, 12('}; 

 tail, 105; tarsus, 1!)." (Shnrpp.) 



Female. — fSimilar to the male but crown and iheek-band greenish; the 

 greenish wash on wings very faint; tail faintly washed with green instead 

 of blue. 



"A strictly woods t'orni. never met with in the open, (^uite common 

 in Mindanao, and so far as is at present known, confined to that island. 



"Iris very dark brown; legs and feet dirty greenish olive; culmen 

 black; bill along gape dirty red, darker at base. Food, beetles and small 

 snails. Measurements from seven males: Length, 'iHli: wing, 12'^: tail, 

 94; culmen, 46; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 'Hi. Six females, 

 length, 278; wing, 120; tail, 94; culmen, 48; tarsus, Ki; middle toe with 

 claw, 28." (Bourns and Worcester MS.) 



