AVIS-IBIS - An Avian Information System - Indian BioDiversity Information System

 

132. :- Todiramphus collaris, Scop. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 228 ; Butler, Deccan ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 383.

The White-collared Kingfisher.
 

Length, 10.25 ; expanse, 14 to 15 ; wing, 4.25 to 4.5 ; tail, 2.8 to 3 ; tarsus, 0.6 ; bill from gape, 1.6 to 2.3.

Bill black, livid-reddish at base beneath ; irides reddish-brown ; legs shining greenish-grey.

Head, ears and nape dull bluish-green, darker on the ear-coverts and nape, forming a sort of collar, or coronet, slightly separated from the cap by some white feathers mixed with the others; upper back and scapulars blue-green; the lower back and rump bright pale blue; wings and tail blue, more dull on the coverts, and slightly tinged greenish beneath, and a broad collar all round the neck, white.

The White-collared Kingfisher has been obtained by Mr. Vidal on two or three occasions at Ratnagiri; it has not been observed in any other portion of the district.

 

Sharpe, Mon. Alced, p. 229, pl. 87 ; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 451; id., Str. F. ii. p. 170; Armstrong, Str. F. iv. p. 306; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 78; Hume, Str. F. vii. p. 169; viii- p. 86; Kelham, Ibis, 1881, p. 381 ; Oates, Str. F. x. p. 187; id., B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 85. Alcedo chloris, Bodd., Tabl. Pl. Eni. p. 40. Alcedo collaris, Scop. Del. Fl. et Faun. Insub. ii. p. 90. Todiramphus collaris, Jerd., B. Ind. i. p. 225, No. 132. Sauropatis chloris, Salvad, Ucc. Born. p. 103 ; Blyth, B. Burm, p. 71. -

The White-collared Kingfisher.
 

Forehead, crown, nape, band under the earcoverts and eye, upper back and scapulars green tinged with blue; ear coverts and a narrow band encircling the nape black; lower back, rump, wing coverts and upper tail coverts bright blue ; tail deeper blue; quills dark brown, broadly edged with deep blue; lores black ; a band above these to the eye white; the whole lower plumage, under wing coverts and a broad collar round the neck pure white. (Oates.) Bill with the upper mandible, and the tip and edge of lower one greenish black ; rest of lower "mandible pinkish white ; irides deep brown; legs and feet plumbeous in front; behind and the soles, in some bluish, in some pinkish grey. (Davison.)

Length. - 9 to 9.5 inches; tail 2.7 to 2.9; wing 4 to 4.25 ; tarsus 0.6; bill from gape 2.2.

Hab. - British Burmah, where, according to Oates, it is found generally along the sea coast, penetrating inland for some distance at times. He shot a specimen, he adds, in the town of Pegu, fully sixty miles from the sea, but where the river is tidal and the water brackish. It extends up the coast to the Bengal Sunderbuns, but it has not been recorded from any other part of the Peninsula of India, except the neighbourhood of Bombay. It has also been procured in the Red Sea. Oates adds that it is abundant in the Andaman Islands, and ranges down the Malayan Peninsula to Sumatra, Java and Borneo. It is also recorded from Siam and Cochin-China. It is a bird of tidal waters, and lives princi­pally on crabs and fish left stranded on mud banks at low water. " It breeds in Burmah. Mr. Davison is said to have found its nest in a deserted ants' nest in a garden in Tenasserim. According to Bernstein the eggs are laid on a few dry leaves and pieces of moss. Nothing appears to be known of the number and colour of the eggs. An allied species, Halcyon occipitalis, is found in the Nicobar Islands. It differs from the present species in having a broad buff band surrounding the crown of the head, from the forehead to the nape.

 

The White-collared Kingfisher.

Alcedo chloris, Bodd. Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 40 (1783). Alcedo collaris, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun. Insub. ii, p. 90 (1786). Todirhamphus collaris, Blyth, Cat. p. 48; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 228; Walden, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 554; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 221; Beavan Ibis, 1867. p. 319; 1869, p. 409. Halcyon collaris, Horsf. & M. Cat. p. 127. Sauropatis chloris, Cab. Heine, Mus. Hein. pt. 2, p. 160; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 302 ; Blyth & Wald. Birds Burm. p. 71; Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2), vii, p. 433. Halcyon chloris, Sharpe, Mon. Alc. p. 229, pl. 87; Ball, S. F. i, p. 58; Hume, S. F. i, p. 451; ii, p. 170; vii, p. 168; id. Cat. no. 132; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 306 ; Hume Dav. S. F. vi, p. 78; Vidal, S. F. viii, p. 414; ix, p. 50; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 85 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 100; Davison, Ibis, 1885, p. 332; Sharpe, Cat. B. xvii, p. 273, pl. vii, fig. 3. Halcyon armstrongi (subspecies of H. chloris), Sharpe, t. c. p. 277, pi. vii, fig. 1. Halcyon vidali (subsp. of H. chloris), Sharpe, t. c. p. 278. Halcyon humii (& H. davisoni, subsp.), Sharpe, t. c. p. 281, pl. viii.

Coloration. Crown, nape, and sides of head to below the eye bluish green; a white streak above the lores occasionally extending back above the eye; ear-coverts black in some varieties, and with a black band round the nape, separated from the green of the crown by an ill-defined white space (these black and white bands are often entirely wanting); a broad white collar; upper back and scapulars dull bluish green to greenish blue; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts bright blue; upper surface of wings and tail deeper blue, sometimes with a greenish tinge; quills, except on outer webs outside, black; lower surface of tail the same; lower parts white, sometimes tinged with buff, especially on the flanks.

Upper mandible, tip and edge of lower mandible greenish black; rest of lower mandible pinkish white ; irides deep brown; legs plumbeous (Davison).

Length 9.5; tail 2.75; wing 4; tarsus .6; bill from gape 2.3.

Distribution. Though represented by a variety (H. abyssinica) in the Red Sea, this Kingfisher has only been obtained in the Indian Peninsula near Ratnagiri; it is, however, common in the Sundarbans and throughout the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, more abundantly to the southward, in the Andaman Islands (it appears to be replaced in the Nicobars by H. occipitalis), and throughout the Malay Archipelago to the Philippines and Celebes.

In the British Museum Catalogue Dr. Sharpe has divided this type into several species and subspecies, all the Indian forms of which appear to me to be races varying considerably amongst themselves and passing into each other. These races' are:—

H, chloris typical, from the Malay Archipelago, a greenish bird with black ear-coverts and a well-marked black nuchal band.

H. armstrongi: Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, North Borneo, Burmese coast, and Sundarbans. Ear-coverts green, and generally no black nuchal band.

H. vidali, from Ratnagiri, like H. armstrongi but greener.

H. humii inhabits the Malay Peninsula with Southern Tenas serim and Sumatra, and is described as a distinct species. It is a very blue form, some birds having scarcely any green tinge on the back even, but others show a complete passage to H. armstrongi, which inhabits the same countries. There is no nuchal band.

H. davisoni, the Andaman race, is blue like H. humii, but has black ear-coverts and a black nuchal band.

Habits, &c. An inhabitant of sea-shores and of tidal waters, living chiefly on Crustacea, but partly on insects, centipedes, small lizards, &c. Hume mentions observing birds of this species hammering shells that contained hermit-crabs against stones in order to break the shells. They are noisy birds. The nest is said to be sometimes made under a stone or bush, but Davison found one in a deserted ants' nest tenanted by hornets (from the description much like a termites' nest, a pile of hard clay against a tree trunk) at Mergui. The eggs are said to measure about 1.4 by 1.

 

Blyth's White-collared Kingfisher.

Todiramphus occipitalis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, pp. 23, 51, 369; Ball, J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 31. Todirhamphus collaris, var. Blyth, Cat. p. 48. Halcyon occipitalis, Pelzeln, Novara Beise, Vogel, p. 46; Ball, S. F. i, p. 58; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 171; id. Cat. no. 132 bis; Davison, Ibis, 1885, p. 332; Oates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 19 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xvii, p. 265.

Coloration. Similar to that of S. chloris, but the crown is surrounded by a buff rim formed by the lores, supercilia, and a band round the nape; outside this again is a black band, more or less washed with green, especially behind the eyes, and commencing from the eye, including eyes and ear-coverts, and passing round the nape. The lower parts are buff, especially the flanks, wing-lining, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts. As in S. chloris, some specimens are greener than others. In young birds the feathers of the white collar and breast have dark edges.

Upper mandible, and the tip and edge of the lower dark horny, rest of lower mandible pinkish; legs and feet pinkish (Hume).

Length about 10; tail 2.8; wing 4.25; tarsus .6; bill from gape 1.7.

Distribution. The Nicobar Islands, where this is a common bird. Its nearest ally, H. julice, inhabits the New Hebrides.

Habits, &c. Very similar to those of H. chloris, but this bird is said by Davison to be more often found in forest. It lives chiefly on lizards and shell-fish. Davison found three nests on Camorta, all in ants' nests of clay, 12 to 30 inches in diameter and 4 to 20 feet from the ground, against trunks of trees. There was a tunnel 6 inches long and 2 or 2 1/2 in diameter, leading to the bird's nest, a chamber 7 inches across. A single egg, obtained from a female that was shot, measured 1.16 by .98.

 

The White-collared Kingfisher.

Alcedo chloris Bodd., Tabl. Pl. Enl., p. 49 (1783) (Buru, Moluccas). Sauropatis chloris. Blanf. & Oates, iii, p. 135 (part).

Vernacular names. Nok-poh-piu (Siam).

Description. Lores and a few feathers above the forehead black; a white or fulvous patch above the lores sometimes produced back to the eye; crown, nape and upper sides of head bluish-green; ear-coverts dark bluish-green, more or less mixed with black and sometimes produced as a black band behind the nape {chloris chloris) and sometimes absent (chloris armstrongi): in some specimens the ear-coverts are all blue (chloris humii); lower parts, sides of neck and a broad collar on the extreme upper back white; upper back and scapulars greenish-blue or bluish-green; lower back, Tump and upper tail-coverts bright blue; tail dark blue, sometimes tinged with greenish; wing-coverts blue, tinged with greenish on the shoulder; quills black, edged on all but the first with blue, deepest at the base, paler at the tips; the innermost secondaries nearly all of this colour.

Colours of soft parts. Iris deep brown; upper mandible and terminal third of lower black or deep greenish-black; basal two-thirds of lower mandible pinkish or yellowish-white; legs slaty-black or plumbeous.

Nidification. The White-collared Kingfisher breeds in some numbers in and about Bangkok. Herbert * says that the eggs are almost invariably laid in chambers with very short entrance-tunnels made in the nests of ants which breed in hollow trees. These ants make great black, papier-mache looking nests, blocking up the entrance to hollow trees, sometimes more than a foot in diameter. Occasionally the Kingfishers will cut out a nest-hole for themselves in a soft, rotten tree and once he saw the young birds in a hollow made in a termites' mound. In each case, whether termites' or ants', the nests were live ones full of termites or ants. The ants' nests selected in trees were usually somewhere about twenty feet from the ground but one of those bored by the birds in a dead tree was within a foot of it. The eggs seem to be practically always four, though twice Herbert found only three young. Typically they are broad ovals but rather less so than those of: Halcyon, whilst a few are long ovals, rarely even somewhat pointed at the smaller end. Thirty-two eggs average 28.9 x 24.2 mm.: maxima 32.0 x 25.2 and 31.0 x 26.2 mm.; minima 27.8 x 23.0 and 28.0 x 22.5 mm.

Herbert took eggs from February onwards and found newly-fledged young as late as August. Kellow took eggs from similar situations in Perak in the month of January. In Siam fruit gardens seem to furnish the favourite nesting-sites.

Habits. When not breeding this Kingfisher is most common along the coast but when breeding makes for more inland resorts and Herbert says that, though found all the year round in Bangkok, their numbers are greatly augmented during the breeding-season when this bird becomes very common, their harsh cry of " krerk-krerk-krerk-krerk" being heard on all sides. At the commencement of the Rains many birds leave. They are very tame, confiding birds, haunting the vicinity of villages and towns and even breeding close to houses. Their food consists largely of small land-crabs but they also feed on grasshoppers, insects, small reptiles, etc.

 

The Andaman White-collared Kingfisher.

Halcyon davisoni Sharpe, Cat. B. M., xvii, p. 282 (1892) (Andamans Sauropatis chloris. Blanf, & Oates, iii, p, 135 (part).

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. Differs principally from S. c. chloris in having the sides of the chin, throat and flanks, together with the vent and under tail-coverts, more or less sullied with buff; the ear-coverts are dark and mixed with black whilst the black nuchal collar, though narrow, is practically always present; the white collar below is also bordered with dark brownish-green; the faint sub-barring of the tail-feathers, which hardly shows in the typical form and in vidali, is very apparent in this.

Colours of soft parts as in the other races.

Measurements. Wing 96 to 105 mm.; tail 63 to 67 mm.; tarsus about 14 to 15 mm.; culmen 38 to 41 mm.

Distribution. Andamans and Little Cocos Islands.

Nidification. Osmaston took several nests of this bird in the Andamans, nearly all of which are described as short tunnels, some one to three feet long, cut in the banks of coastal streams or brackish streams. Anderson and Wickham, however, seem to have taken eggs from ants' nests high up in trees, just as Herbert found them in Siam. The full clutch of eggs is either three or four, generally the latter, and thirty eggs average 29.3 x 24.8 mm.: maxima 31.0 x 265 mm.; minima 27.6 x 23.3 and 29.0 x 23.0 mm. The principal breeding months are April and May but eggs have been taken from early March to late June.

Habits. Those of the genus, not differing from the habits of S. c. chloris except that this form is more exclusively a coastal forest bird.

 

The Nicobar White-collared Kingfisher.

Todiramphus occipitalis Blyth, J. A, S. B., xv, p. 23 (1847) (Nicobars). Sauropatis occipitalis. Blanf. & Oates, iii, p. 137.

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. Differs from all other races in being much more fulvous on the abdomen and vent: the fulvous patch above the eye is produced back as a broad supercilium to the nape and meets behind the crest above the black collar; the general tone of plumage is very dark and the crown very green.

Colours of soft parts as in the other races.

Measurements- "Wing 105 to 113 mm.; tail 65 to 72 mm.; tarsus 14 to 15 mm.; culmen 40 to 48 mm.

Distribution. Nicobars.

This race seems to form a connecting link with the more Eastern and Australian forms.

Nidification. Davison records taking many of its nests; all made in clay nests of ants placed against the trunks of large trees or more rarely against coconut-palms. The entrance-tunnel is short, a few inches only and the chamber about seven inches across. Osmaston took a pair of these eggs in April but Davison found the birds breeding in February and March. The few eggs I have seen vary between 30.0 x 24.3 and 26.4 x 22.5 mm.

Habits. Those of the genus.

 

The Malabar White-collared Kingfisher.

Halcyon vidali Sharpe, Cat. B. M., xvii, p. 278 (1892) (S. Konkan). Sauropatis chloris. Blanf. & Oates, iii, p. 135 (part).

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description, Very similar to S. c. chloris but on the whole brighter and paler blue on the wings and more consistently green on the back; the ear-coverts are green with no trace of black and the black nuchal collar is absent whilst the white collar is very wide.

Colours of soft parts as in the other races.

Measurements. Wing 110 to 116 mm.; tail 70 to 73 mm.; tarsus about 16 mm.; culmen 42 to 49 mm.

Distribution. South-West coast of India. Stewart and Bourdillon both record it from Travancore and it appears to inhabit the coastal region from Travancore to the Konkan.

Nidification. Nothing recorded.

Habits. This seems to inhabit not only the well-wooded shores. of the Western coast but to be found some distance inland on forested streams and creeks. Its habits seem to be very similar to those of the preceding bird.

* Journal Siam. Nat. Hist. Society, vol. vi, 3, pp. 310-311 (1924).

 

Sauropatis chloris chloris Boddaert.

 

Alcedo chloris Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enlum., p. 49, 1783: based on Pl. Enl. 783, fig. 2: Buru Is., Moluccas.

Alcedo collaris Scopoli, Del. Flor. et Paun. Insubr., vol. ii, p.90,1786.

Alcedo chlorocephala Gmelin, Syst. Nat. vol. i, pt. ii, p. 454, 1788; on Pl. Enlum. 783, fig. 2 : Moluccas.

Halcyon armstrongi Sharpe, Cat Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xvii, p. 277, 1892.

Halcyon humii id., ibid., p. 281, pl. viii.

 

Halcyon davisoni Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. vol. xvii, p. 282, 1892: Andamans.

 

Halcyon vidali Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M., vol. xvii, p. 278, 1892: S. Konkan.

 

Todiramphus occipitalis Blyth, J. A. S. B., vol. xv, pp. 23, 51, 369, 1846: Nicobars.