Ceyx cyanopectus Lafresnaye, Rev. Zool. (1840), 33; McGregor,
Bur. Govt. Labs. (1905), 25, 13, pl. 10.
Ceyx cyanipectus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 185;
Hand-List (1900), 2, 53; Bourns and Worcester, Ibis (1895), 404;
Minnesota Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 48.
Ceyx steerii Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 187.
Alcyone cyanipectus Grant, Ibis (1895), 112, 464; Whitehead, Ibis
(1899), 385.
Alcyone cyanopectus McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 52.
Sal-pac', Ticao and Masbate.
Luzon (Cuming, Heriot, Möllendorff, Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead);
Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor);
Mindoro (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor);
Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Ticao (McGregor).
Male.--Lores orange-chestnut; sides of face, crown, and occiput
deep blue, the feathers tipped with silvery cobalt; back, rump, and
tail-coverts silvery cobalt; scapulars black, widely edged with dark
blue; wings black, secondaries edged with dark blue; secondary-coverts
dark blue, each feather with a spot of silvery cobalt; a large spot
of orange-chestnut on side of neck; throat orange-chestnut, much
paler on chin; middle of abdomen and a large spot on center of breast
orange-chestnut; rest of under parts deep ultramarine-blue and forming
two bands across the breast; axillars and wing-lining orange-chestnut;
tail dark blue. A male from Mindoro measures: Length, 145; wing, 60;
tail, 23; exposed culmen, 35.
Female.--Similar to the male, but all the lower parts deep
orange-chestnut except the pale throat and a single dark blue band
across the breast. A female from Mindoro measures: Length, 152; wing,
61; tail, 23; exposed culmen, 35.
"We found A. cyanopectus abundantly in Masbate. In Sibuyan it
was much more rare. It is to be found along the banks of small
fresh-water streams, which it is extremely loath to leave. In Sibuyan
one specimen was seen in a mangrove swamp. We never met with it away
from water. Legs, feet, and nails scarlet; upper mandible black,
lower red; food (in one case) fish.
"Eight males average, 138 in length; wing, 58; tail, 22; culmen,
39; tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw, 17. Seven females average, 142
in length; wing, 60; tail, 22; tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw, 17;
culmen, 39." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)