1872.] FROM THE PELEW AND MACKENZIE ISLANDS. 93 



jars from the Philippines, C. griseatas and C. manillensis, hut both 

 are still undescribed. 



4. CoLLOCALIA, Sp. 1 



Mr. Kubary observed once in the island of Uap a small bird, 

 which he believes to have been a species of Collocalia. 



5. Halcyon chloris (Bodd.) ; F. & H. V6g. Ost-Afr. p. 165. 



Halcyon albicilla, part., Hartl. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 828 (green-headed 

 spec.) ; H. & F. ib. 1868, p. 4 ; Sharpe, Kingfishers, t. 73 (hind fig.). 



In our first publication on the Birds of the Pelew Islands we noticed, 

 under the head of H. albicilla, besides specimens in the normal 

 white-headed plumage, some which showed more or less greenish- 

 blue feathers on the crown, and one with the whole upper head uni- 

 form greenish blue like the back, supposing this latter to be the 

 young bird. Unfortunately we had overlooked that the young of 

 the true H. albicilla had been already made known by Prof. Schlegel 

 (Vogels van Nederl. Indie, Ijsvogels, p. 32, pi. 11. f. 4), who received 

 a very young specimen, shot by the late Dr. Bernstein the 12th 

 September, 1861, in the island of Morotai. This specimen, repre- 

 sented in the plate cited above, resembles very much the old bird, 

 having already the head white, but with some greenish-blue feathers 

 on the top, like those we received from the Pelews. In a second 

 collection from this locality we got three green-headed specimens ; 

 and the last collection (Capts. Heinsohn and Peters) contains ten 

 specimens, all with greenish-blue heads. 



From this excellent and instructive series we learn that we were 

 quite mistaken in supposing the green-headed birds to be the young 

 of H. albicilla, and that they belong to a distinct species, which we 

 are not able to distinguish from the widely distributed H. chloris. 

 We have before us five old specimens from India and Java which 

 agree in every respect with them. The blue of head and back in 

 some specimens changes more or less into bluish green ; but there are 

 all sorts of intermediate forms between the birds with blue and those 

 with green back ; the black band through the eyes and round the 

 nape, aswell as the white occipital spot, are also more or less developed, 

 the feathers of the former are more or less tipped with greenish blue. 

 Three other specimens show certain signs of the young bird, in 

 having the feathers of the sides of neck and breast, as well as those 

 of the white neck-collar, with narrow dark edgings, giving them an 

 undulating appearance ; in these the whole head above is darker and 

 of a dull olive-green ; in one the white mark behind the nostrils is 

 tinged with pale buff. Two younger specimens with quills not full- 

 grown, and tail-feathers, and short hornish-white-tipped bills, so 

 characteristic of young Kingfishers generally, resemble altogether 

 the young of the true chloris. The black surrounding the nape 

 forms a broader patch ; the line above the loral region, as well as the 

 breast and sides of belly, are tinged faintly with buff, and bear narrow 

 blackish margins. 



We must remark that the Pelew specimens seem to be generally 



