Ceyx flumenicola Steere, List. Birds & Mams. Steere Exped. (1890),
10.
Ceyx fluminicola Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 187;
Hand-List (1900), 2, 53.
Alcyone fluminicola McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 53.
Leyte (Everett, Steere Exp., Whitehead); Samar (Steere Exp.,
Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead).
"Adult male.--Similar to C. argentata, but differing in having the
breast and sides of body black, washed with ultramarine or purplish
blue. 'Bill black; legs and feet scarlet, the nails brown; iris
brown.' (Worcester.) Length, 127; culmen, 37; wing, 61; tail, 23;
tarsus, 10.
"Adult female.--Similar to the male in color. Length, 140; culmen,
37; wing, 58; tail, 22; tarsus, 9.
"The specimen from Leyte is more ultramarine on the breast than
those from Samar, which incline to purplish blue; but Steere unites
the birds from the two islands, and thus the Leyte specimen in the
Museum may be immature, especially as it has the throat and abdomen
tinged with buff. This last character Steere considers to be specific,
but I feel sure that it is a sign of immaturity." (Sharpe.)
"We had scant faith in Steere's C. flumenicola before our return
to the Philippines. But one specimen of C. argentata was collected
by the Steere Expedition, and that was so shot to pieces that the
differences between it and C. flumenicola were not in evidence to
any great extent. The examination of a good series of specimens from
Mindanao and Basilan has, however, convinced us that the Samar-Leyte
birds are quite distinct.
"The blue of the under parts affords the best means of distinguishing
the species, being much darker in the northern birds. The under
wing-coverts in the southern birds are white; in the northern birds
they are almost invariably light buff. All of our specimens from the
south have pure white throats, while the northern birds usually have
the white of the throat washed with buff. This last character is not
of a very satisfactory nature, however, as the northern birds show a
great deal of individual variation in this respect. This variation is
independent of the sex; nor does it seem to be, as Dr. Sharpe thinks,
a sign of immaturity, young birds in some cases having very little
of the color. C. flumenicola is always found along the wooded banks
of streams where it perches over the water.
"Iris very dark brown; legs and feet bright scarlet; nails usually
blackish; bill black. Food, in one case, small crabs. Eight males
measure, 136 in length; wing, 56; tail, 23; culmen, 36; tarsus,
8; middle toe with claw, 20. Five females measure, 139 in length;
wing, 57; tail, 23; culmen, 34; tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw,
16." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)