Actenoides hombroni Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Avium (1850), 1, 157.
Halcyon hombroni Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 17,
284; Hand-List (1900), 2, 61; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List
(1906), 55.
Mindanao (Hombron & Jacquinot, Steere, Everett, Steere Exp.,
Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow, Celestino).
"Adult male.--Head and nape bright blue, more brilliant on the sides
of the head, above the eye, and on the nape; round the latter a narrow
line of deep black; ear-coverts chestnut; along the lower line of the
lores a streak of black, reaching below the eye, and widening behind
the latter, being here washed with blue; cheeks bright blue, forming
a broad band; sides of neck and hinder part of the latter deep tawny,
varied with narrow black edgings to the feathers; mantle blackish,
mottled with spots of tawny-buff, these being subterminal, with a
narrow fringe of black; center of back, scapulars, and wing-coverts
green, with a slight shade of verditer, each feather having a distinct
subterminal spot of ochraceous-buff; quills blackish, externally washed
with greenish, the primaries edged with ochraceous, the secondaries
with the same subterminal spot of ochraceous as on the wing-coverts;
lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts bright silvery cobalt,
the sides of the back and the lateral coverts blackish, washed with
blue; tail-feathers deep blue, with black shafts; throat white,
slightly washed with tawny; rest of the under surface deep tawny,
whiter on the center of the abdomen; breast-feathers with narrow,
nearly obsolete, blackish margins; thighs externally blackish,
internally deep tawny; feathers at side of vent, adjoining the sides
of the lower back, deep blue, the outer web more or less ochraceous;
under wing-coverts and axillars deep tawny; quills blackish below,
edged with pale tawny-buff along the inner web. Length, 287; culmen,
51; wing, 126; tail, 105; tarsus, 19." (Sharpe.)
Female.--Similar to the male but crown and cheek-band greenish; the
greenish wash on wings very faint; tail faintly washed with green
instead of blue.
"A strictly woods form, never met with in the open. Quite common in
Mindanao, and so far as is at present known, confined to that island.
"Iris very dark brown; legs and feet dirty greenish olive; culmen
black; bill along gape dirty red, darker at base. Food, beetles
and small snails. Measurements from seven males: Length, 283; wing,
123; tail, 94; culmen, 46; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 26. Six
females, length, 278; wing, 120; tail, 94; culmen, 48; tarsus, 16;
middle toe with claw, 28." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)