Alcedo meninting Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13, pt. 1,
172; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 157; Hand-List
(1900), 2, 51; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1903), 3, 33;
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 52.
Balabac (Everett); Bongao (Everett); Calamianes (Bourns &
Worcester); Palawan (Platen, Whitehead, Bourns & Worcester,
White); Sulu (Guillemard); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester,
Everett). Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, southern Tenasserim, Java,
Borneo.
"Adult male (type of species).--Above rich purplish blue; the entire
back brilliant cobalt, changing to deeper blue on the lower rump
and upper tail-coverts; wing-coverts black, washed with purplish
blue, with a small spot of brighter blue near the end of each
feather; quills black, secondaries externally purplish blue like
the scapulars; tail black, washed with purplish blue; crown black,
barred with purplish blue rather brighter than the shade of the back;
hind neck beautiful purplish blue, with the black cross-bars more
or less obsolete; lores blackish, with a rufous supra-loral streak;
sides of face, ear-coverts, and cheeks purplish blue like the crown,
the feathers mottled with black bases; behind the ear-coverts a broad
band of white, tinged with ocherous-buff; throat white with a rufous
wash; rest of under surface of body from the lower throat downwards
chestnut-rufous, with a patch of purplish blue, lilac-tinged feathers
on each side of the upper breast; under wing-coverts chestnut-rufous,
a little paler than the breast. 'Bill blackish brown; feet coral-red;
iris brown.' (Everett.) Length, 135; culmen, 42; wing, 65; tail, 27;
tarsus, 9.
"Adult female.--Exactly resembles the male in color, and has even
the cheeks blue like the male. It appears, however, always to have
the bill more, or less red, and generally the greater part of the
lower mandible is rufous. Length, 140; culmen, 42; wing, 66; tail,
27; tarsus, 6." (Sharpe.)
"Found chiefly along banks of fresh-water streams in forest. More
rare in mangrove swamps and never seen by us along the seashore. Iris
dark brown; legs and feet deep scarlet; bill black, reddish at base
of lower mandible. In a single case the bill was deep scarlet except
base and culmen black. Seven birds average as follows: Length, 155;
wing, 64; tail, 28; culmen, 37; tarsus, 8." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus ALCYONE Swainson, 1837.
The Philippine species here placed in Alcyone are scarcely separable
generically from those of the next following genus. They feed along
small forest streams wherein they differ from the members of the genus
Ceyx which are always found away from water in forest or in thickets.
Species.
a1. Back and upper tail-coverts cobalt-blue; head spotted with
cobalt-blue; chin and throat orange-buff.
b1. Lower mandible dark red; spots on crown smaller. ... cyanopectus
(p. 308)
b2. Lower mandible black; spots on crown larger. ... nigrirostris
(p. 311)
a2. Back and upper tail-coverts black, more or less spotted with white;
chin and throat white.
b1. Breast and sides dark greenish blue. ... argentata (p. 309)
b2. Breast and sides purplish blue. ... flumenicola (p. 310)