White-throated Kingfisher

SCI Name:  Halcyon smyrnensis
Protonym:  Alcedo smyrnensis Syst.Nat.ed.10 p.116
Taxonomy:  Coraciiformes / Alcedinidae / Halcyon
Taxonomy Code:  whtkin2
Type Locality:  Africa and Asia = Smyrna, ex Albin.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1758
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

HALCYON
(Alcedinidae; Ϯ Woodland Kingfisher H. senegalensis) Gr. αλκυων alkuōn, αλκυονος alkuonos  mythical bird, long associated with the kingfisher, which nested on the sea.  It was beloved of the gods, who calmed the waves whilst it incubated and raised its young, and such periods of peace and calm became known as “halcyon days”; "HALCYON collaris.  Collared Crabeater.   GENERIC CHARACTER.  Rostrum longissimum, rectum, validum, ad basin latius quam altius, lateribus tetragonis; mandibula superiore rectissima, ad basin rotundata; inferiore carinata, recurvata, margine superioris inferiorum obtegente.  Nares basales, membrana tectæ, apertura nuda, lineari obliqua.  Cauda plerumque mediocris.  Pedes gressorii, digito antico interiore minimo aut nullo.  Typus Genericus Alcedo Senegalensis. Linn.   ...   REFERRING to the observations we have already made on Kingsfishers generally, it will be only necessary to observe, that the species now formed into the genus Halcyon appear entirely excluded from the American continent: their bills are much stronger, thicker, and more rounded than the genuine Kingsfishers, and the under mandible beneath invariably carinated and curving upwards. One of them (the Alcedo Senegalensis of Latham) is known to feed on crabs, the breaking and disjointing of which this structure seems admirably calculated to accomplish   ...   The situation of Halcyon will be between Alcedo and Dacelo; from the last of which it is distinguished by its perfectly straight, acute, and entire upper mandible, which, on the contrary, in Dacelo is notched, the tip bent and obtuse." (Swainson 1821); "Halcyon Swainson, Zool. Illustr., 1, 1820-21 (1821), text to pl. 27.  Type, by original designation, Alcedo senegalensis Linné." (Peters, 1945, V, p. 193).       
Var. Halcion.   
Synon. Alcyon, Calialcyon, Cancrophaga, Cecilia, Ceciliella, Cedola, Chelicutia, Chelicutona, Entomobia, Entomophila, Entomothera, Halcyonopa, Nutchera, Pagurothera, Plesialcyon, Pseudhalcyon.
● (syn. Alcedo Ϯ Common Kingfisher A. atthis ispida) "Halcyon alcedo, King Fisher." (Morris 1837).

smyrnensis
Smyrna / Izmir, western Turkey (cf. L. Smyrnaeus  of Smyrna  < Smyrna, celebrated city of Ionia, birthplace of Homer  < Gr. σμυρνα Smurna  Smyrna).
● "56. ALCEDO.  ...  smyrnensis.  5. A. macroura ferruginea, alis cauda dorsoque viridibus.  Alcedo smyrnensis. Alb. av. 3. p. 26. t. 27.  Ispida major africana. Edw. av. 8. t. 8.  Habitat in Africa & Asia.  Confer. Alcedo major benghalensis. Alb. av. 3. p. 271. 28." (Linnaeus 1758) (Halcyon).

SUBSPECIES

White-throated Kingfisher (smyrnensis)
SCI Name: Halcyon smyrnensis smyrnensis
smyrnensis
Smyrna / Izmir, western Turkey (cf. L. Smyrnaeus  of Smyrna  < Smyrna, celebrated city of Ionia, birthplace of Homer  < Gr. σμυρνα Smurna  Smyrna).
● "56. ALCEDO.  ...  smyrnensis.  5. A. macroura ferruginea, alis cauda dorsoque viridibus.  Alcedo smyrnensis. Alb. av. 3. p. 26. t. 27.  Ispida major africana. Edw. av. 8. t. 8.  Habitat in Africa & Asia.  Confer. Alcedo major benghalensis. Alb. av. 3. p. 271. 28." (Linnaeus 1758) (Halcyon).

White-throated Kingfisher (fusca)
SCI Name: Halcyon smyrnensis fusca
fusca
L. fuscus  dusky, black, brown. Despite its classical meaning this epithet is used in ornithology to indicate a very wide spectrum of colours from black, grey and brown to a range of dark tints including slate-blue and dusky-orange (see also fuscus).
● ex “Héron brun de Cayenne” (= ☼) of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 858, and “Héron brun” of de Buffon 1770-1786 (syn. Agamia agami).
● ex “Gobe-mouche brun de la Martinique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 568, fig. 2 (Allenia).
● ex “Brown Sandpiper” of Pennant 1768, and Latham 1787 (syn. Calidris minuta).
● ex “Brown Tern” of Latham 1785 (syn. Chlidonias niger).
● ex “Promérops de la nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 638, “Promérops brun à ventre rayé” of de Buffon 1770-1783, “Promérops brun de la nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1776, and “New Guinea brown Promerops” of Latham 1782 (syn. Epimachus fastuosus).
● ex “White-breasted Barbet” of Latham 1782 (Malacoptila).
● "61. ANAS.  ...  fusca.  5. A. nigricans, macula pone oculos lineaque alarum albis.  Anas corpore obscuro, macula alba pone oculos, lineaque alba. Fn. svec. 106. It. gotl. 215. 271.  Anas fera fusca. Jonst. av. t. 44.  Anas niger. Will. orn. 278. t. 10. Raj. av. 141.  Habitat in oceano Europæo.  Mas ad basin rostri gibbositate notatus." (Linnaeus 1758) (Melanitta).
● ex “Martin-pêcheur de la Nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 663 (= ♀), and “Great Brown Kingsfisher” of Latham 1782 (syn. Melidora macrorrhina).
● ex “Tangara brun d’Amérique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 155, fig. 2 (syn. Paroaria gularis).
● ex “Coot-footed Tringa” of Edwards 1743-1751, “Phalaropus fuscus” of Brisson 1760, and “Brown Phalarope” of Pennant 1785, and Latham 1785 (syn. Phalaropus lobatus).
● ex “Brown Creeper from the South Seas” of Latham 1782 (syn. Phylidonyris undulata).
● ex “Golondrina parda” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 301 (subsp. Progne tapera).
● ex "Figuier étranger" of d'Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 58, fig. 3 (Setophaga).
● ex “Bouveron” of de Buffon 1770-1783: “J’appelle ainsi cet oiseau ... parce qu’il me paroît faire la nuance entre les bouvreuils [bullfinches] d’Europe et les bec-ronds [seedeaters] d’Amérique” (syn. Sporophila lineola).
● ex “Barge brune” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 875 (syn. Tringa erythropus).
● ex “Rasle brun des Philippines” of Brisson 1760 (Zapornia).
● ex “Tourterelle de la Caroline” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 175 (syn. Zenaida macroura carolinensis).
● "96. LOXIA.  ...  fusca.  25. L. fusca, subtus albida, remigibus a tertia ad nonam basi omnino albis. Chin. Lagerstr. 19.  Habitat in Benghala." (Linnaeus 1758) (unident.).
● ex “Figuier brun-olive” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Olive-brown Warbler” of Latham 1783, and Pennant 1785 (unident.).
● ex “Gobe-mouche brun de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 574, fig. 1 (unident.; has been linked with Cnemotriccus fuscatus and with Contopus cinereus).

White-throated Kingfisher (saturatior)
SCI Name: Halcyon smyrnensis saturatior
saturatior / saturatium / saturatius
L. saturatior, saturatioris  more richly coloured, intensely coloured  < saturare  to satisfy  < satur, satura  rich, copious  < satis  enough.

White-throated Kingfisher (perpulchra)
SCI Name: Halcyon smyrnensis perpulchra
perpulchra
L. perpulcher  very beautiful  < per-  very; pulcher  beautiful.

White-throated Kingfisher (fokiensis)
SCI Name: Halcyon smyrnensis fokiensis
fohkienensis / fohkiensis / fokensis / fokienensis / fokiensis
Fokien Province, China.