Ceyx bournsi Steere, List Birds & Mams. Steere Exped. (July,
1890), 10; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 185;
Hand-List (1900), 2, 53; Bourns and Worcester, Minnesota
Acad. Nat. Sci. Occ. Papers (1894), 1, 47; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 53.
Ceyx malamaui Steere, List Birds & Mams. Steere Exped. (1890),
10; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17, 184.
Ceyx suluensis Blasius, Jour. für Orn. (August, 1890), 141.
Ceyx margarethæ Blasius, Jour. für Orn. (August, 1890), 141.
Banton (Celestino); Basilan (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester,
McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Cebu (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor);
Mindanao (Steere Exp., Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Negros
(Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan
(Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester);
Sulu (Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester);
Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester, Everett).
Adult (sexes similar).--Above, sides of head and neck, and wings
ultramarine to silvery cobalt-blue; having a more or less spotted
appearance on head; lores and under parts orange-rufous, but chin,
throat, and middle of abdomen white or with a pale yellow wash;
alula, primaries, and primary-coverts black; edge of wing and outer
web of first alula-quill and of first primary rufous; tail blue,
darker than back and coverts. In a male from Banton the wing is 68;
tail, 26; culmen from base, 39; tarsus, 10.
"Young.--Similar to the adult, but less brilliant and with a duller
red bill; the head, scapulars, and wing-coverts black, with blue
ends to the feathers; the blue of the back lighter than in the adult,
and inclining to cobalt on the lower back; loral spot as large as in
the adult." (Sharpe.)
This species exists under a number of plumages some of which have been
described as separate species. Bourns and Worcester have collected
a great number of specimens which show that these variations can not
be specific. In part they say:
"We find that we must either multiply the number of small blue woods
Ceyces from the Philippines indefinitely or reduce the above-mentioned
species [C. bournsi, malamaui, suluensis, and margarethæ] to one. It
would be an almost endless task to describe the different phases of
plumage shown and we will only say that we have a practically unbroken
series between a bird with a magnificent deep blue upper surface and
a bird with a fine silvery white upper surface which has not a blue
feather on it. In the latter specimens the white occupies exactly
the position of the blue in the specimens first mentioned.
"Our series shows that these extraordinary differences of color are
independent of sex, age, or locality, some young birds are very light,
others very dark. In one case where parent and offspring were killed
at one discharge of the gun they exhibited marked differences in color.
"The amount of blue or white is, however, dependent on age to some
extent, the young birds always showing much more black on the upper
surface than do adults. In the young the bill is at first black tipped
with pale horn and the legs and feet are pale flesh-color.
"Ceyx bournsi is a strictly woods form and its shy habits doubtless
explain its having been so generally missed by collectors." (Bourns
and Worcester.)
"Found in precisely the same locality as C. mindanensis and in company
with it in the Islands of Mindanao and Basilan. Food the same as that
of C. mindanensis.
"When one has learned its note and habits it may be secured without
great trouble. It always gives a shrill 'cheep' just before taking
wing, and repeats the same note at frequent intervals during flight. It
flies with great rapidity, but usually for a short distance, when
it alights on some branch, stump, or stone, where it sits perfectly
still. It is a bird of extremely local habits, and displays great
reluctance to leave the thicket to which it is accustomed. If pursued
it usually flies in a circle, soon returning to the place from which it
started, continuing to follow about the same course until the hunter
either shoots it or gives up the attempt. When its route has been
once learned, two men can easily bring it down, one driving it while
the other waits near one of its favorite resting places. In this way
we secured a considerable number of our specimens. We believe that
this species never 'fishes' in the streams.
"Iris dark brown; bill, legs, feet, and nails scarlet in adults,
growing paler in immature birds. Very young birds have the bill black,
with a whitish horn tip. Food, insects, larvæ and worms.
"Six males from Tawi Tawi measure as follows: Length, 140; wing,
64; tail, 25; culmen, 38; tarsus, 8; middle toe with claw, 16. Four
females from Tawi Tawi: Length, 141; wing, 64; tail, 24; culmen, 37;
tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw, 17.
"Five males from Tablas measure: Length, 146; wing, 65; tail, 25;
culmen, 36; tarsus, 9; middle toe with claw, 17. Four females from
Tablas: Length, 145; wing, 66; tail, 25; tarsus, 9; middle toe with
claw, 22; culmen, 36.
"We have given measurements of birds taken at the extremes of the
range of the species. It will be seen that the northern birds are
slightly longer. As stated in our preliminary notes, the color of
the dorsal surface of this bird varies from deep indigo-blue to
pure silvery white, and this variation is independent of age, sex,
or locality." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)