_Alcedo albicilla_ Dumont, Dict. Sci. Nat., éd. Levrault, 29, 1823,
p. 273. (Type locality, Marianne = Tinian.)
_Alcedo albicilla_ Pucheran, Rev. et Mag. Zool., 1853, p. 388
(Marianne = Tinian); Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1855, p. 423
(Mariannen = Tinian); Cassin, U. S. Expl. Exped. 1838-'42, 1858,
p. 225 (Mariannes = Tinian).
_Todiramphus albicilla_ Reichenbach, Syn. Avium, Alcedineae, 1851,
p. 30 (Mariannen = Tinian).
_Halcyon albicilla_ Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 167
(Mariannen = Tinian); Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean,
1859, p. 5 (Ladrone or Marian Islands = Tinian); Gray (part),
Hand-list Birds, 1, 1869, p. 93 (Mariannes = Tinian); Oustalet, Le
Nat., 1889, p. 260, (Saypan); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber.
Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 14 (Marianne =
Tinian); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3),
7, 1895, p. 169 (Saypan); Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p.
52 (Saipan); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 112, 113, 114
(Saipan); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 45
(Saipan).
_Dacelo albicilla_ Giebel (part), Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 1
(Marianne = Tinian).
_Sauropatis albicilla_ Salvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 1, 1880, p.
470 (Marianne = Tinian).
_Halcyon albicillus_ Sharpe (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 17,
1892, p. 249 (Marianne = Saipan).
_Halcyon saurophagus_ Schnee, Zeitschr. f. Naturwisch., 82, 1912,
p. 463 (Saipan).
_Sauropatis albicillus_ Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 58 (Saipan).
_Leucalcyon albicilla albicilla_ Mathews (part), Syst. Avium
Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 376 (Saipan).
_Halcyon chloris albicilla_, Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932,
p. 180 (Saipan, Tinian); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942,
p. 200 (Saipan, Tinian, Yap?); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific,
1945, p. 293 (Saipan, Tinian); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 5,
1945, p. 210 (Saipan, Tinian); Downs, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci.,
49, 1946, p. 97 (Tinian); Stott, Auk, 64, 1947, p. 526 (Saipan).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Mariana Islands--Saipan, Tinian.
_Characters._--Adult: Resembles _H. c. teraokai_, but slightly
larger; pileum white; white collar broad; black band on nape
narrow and faint in some individuals; back and scapulars more oily
green and less blue.
Immature: Resembles adult, but pileum pale buff streaked with
bluish-green; back and scapulars darker; upper wing-coverts edged
with white; breast feathers edged with dusky black.
_Measurements._--Measurements are listed in table 33.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 20 (12 males, 8 females), as
follows: Mariana Islands, USNM--Saipan, 1 (Sept. 27)--Tinian, 4
(Oct. 18, 23, 26); AMNH--Saipan, 11 (July 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17,
August 5, 21, 26)--Tinian, 4 (Sept. 7, 8, 10).
_Nesting._--Hartert (1898:42) records an egg found in a hole of a
tree at Saipan on July 31, 1895. He writes that the egg "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."
_Molt._--Most of the birds taken in July, August, September, and
October are in molt.
_Remarks._--Quoy and Gaimard, who visited the Marianas while on the
expedition in the "Uranie," obtained this kingfisher at Tinian.
Additional material was taken by Marche in 1887 at Saipan and by
Owston's Japanese collectors in 1895. In 1932, Coultas (field notes)
found the bird to be common on both Tinian and Saipan, especially in
open country. At Saipan, Stott (1947:526) found the birds as singles or
in pairs on wooded hillsides. At Tinian, Gleise (1945:220) estimated the
population in 1945 as 150.
The completely white head in _H. c. albicilla_ closely resembles that in
_H. s. saurophaga_ Gould of Melanesia. These two species resemble each
other in several other respects. _H. saurophaga_ is smaller than _H.
chloris_ with black or greenish blue on the anterior part of the
ear-coverts and the color of the back, wings, and tail is more greenish.
The presence of both _H. saurophaga_ and _H. chloris_ on the same
islands in Melanesia is an indication that the two groups are
specifically distinct.
=Halcyon chloris owstoni= Rothschild