Ceyx melanura Kaup, Fauna Eisv. (1848), 15; Sharpe, Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 180 (part); Hand-List (1900), 2, 53; Bourns
and Worcester, Minnesota Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1,
46; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 53.
Luzon (Heriot, Möllendorff, Steere Exp., Whitehead).
"Adult.--Above lilac-rufous, washed with lilac; edge of wing rufous;
scapulars rufous like the back, with a broad band of black on each
side of mantle; wing-coverts black, spotted minutely with bright blue;
alula, primary-coverts, and quills black; tail-feathers rufous like
the back, the lateral ones blackish; crown lilac-rufous, with faint
but distinct spots of brighter lilac; lores pale orange; eyelid and a
mark in front of eye blackish; sides of face, ear-coverts, and cheeks
lilac-rufous, succeeded by a band of white on the sides of the neck,
above which is a spot of bright blue; throat white; fore neck, breast,
sides of body, and flanks bright lilac-rufous; abdomen white; thighs
and under tail-coverts rufous, as well as the under wing-coverts and
axillars and the inner edge of the quills. Length, 127; culmen, 30;
wing, 53; tail, 18; tarsus, 9.
"Young.--Exactly similar to the adults, but with a shorter and paler
bill, the latter being horny whitish." (Sharpe.)