Part 14

The sexes present so little difference in the colouring of their plumage, that they are scarcely distinguishable from each other; neither do the young at a month old exhibit any great variation from the adult, the only difference being that the markings are somewhat darker and the brown more generally diffused.

It bears confinement remarkably well, and is one of the most amusing birds for the aviary with which I am acquainted: examples have been brought alive to England; one lived for several years in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London, and at the moment I am writing (April 1843) a fine individual brought from New South Wales by Mr. Yaldwyn, is now living at his seat at Blackdown in Sussex, where it attracts the attention of every one by its singular actions and extraordinary notes, which are poured forth as freely as in its native wilds.

Forehead brown, each feather with a stripe of blackish brown down the centre; crown of the head, lores, ear-coverts, and a broad band passing round the occiput blackish brown; space between the crown of the head and the band encircling the occiput, and the back of the neck buff, crossed by fine irregular lines of dark brown; back and wings brownish black; the wing-coverts and rump tipped with verditer green; primaries white at the base, black for the remainder of their length, and stained with green on their outer margins immediately behind the white; upper tail-coverts blackish brown, crossed by several broad irregular bands of rusty red; tail brownish black, tipped with white, the white increasing in extent as the feathers recede from the centre; the central feathers crossed near the tip with rusty red; the lateral feathers with brownish black, the bands being very narrow near the tip, and gradually increasing in breadth as they approach the base, where the white interspaces also become tinged with rusty red; under surface pale buffy white, crossed by fine irregular freckled markings of dark brown; upper mandible brownish black; under mandible pale buff; feet olive; irides dark brown; eyelash olive-brown.

The figures represent a male and two young of the natural size.

DACELO LEACHII: Vig. & Horsf.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp. ]

DACELO LEACHII, Vig. and Horsf. Leach’s Kingsfisher.

Dacelo Leachii, Lath. MSS. Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 205.

Specimens of this fine Kingsfisher are contained in the British Museum, the Linnean Society, and my own collections, all of which were procured on the north-east coast of Australia, where it evidently replaces the Dacelo gigantea of New South Wales and South Australia.

The specimen in the Linnean Society’s museum was presented by Dr. Brown, who procured it in Keppel Bay on the east coast; and it was subsequently seen at Shoalwater Bay and Broad Sound on the same coast; my own specimens were obtained at Cape York, the north-eastern extremity of Australia.

The habits, actions, food, and indeed the whole of the economy, are so precisely like those of the Dacelo gigantea that a separate description of them is entirely unnecessary.

The male has the head and back of the neck striated with brown and white; sides of the neck and under surface white, crossed with very narrow irregular markings of brown, these markings becoming much broader and conspicuous on the under surface of the shoulder; back brownish black; wing-coverts and rump shining azure-blue; wings deep blue; primaries white at the base, black on their inner webs and blue on the outer; tail rich deep blue, all but the two centre feathers irregularly barred near the extremity and largely tipped with white; upper mandible brownish black, under mandible pale buff; irides dark brown; feet olive.

The female differs but little from the male in the colouring of the plumage, except that the tail-feathers, instead of being of a rich blue barred and tipped with white, are of a light chestnut-brown conspicuously barred with bluish black.

The Plate represents the two sexes about the natural size.

DACELO CERVINA: Gould.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

DACELO CERVINA, Gould. Fawn-breasted Kingfisher.

Dacelo cervina, Gould, Birds of Australia, Part II. cancelled.

Lä-rool, Aborigines of Port Essington.

The northern and north-western portions of Australia constitute the true habitat of this species; it was observed in tolerable abundance by Captain Grey during his expedition to the latter part of the country, and specimens of it have also formed a part of every collection of any extent made at Port Essington. In disposition it appears to be more shy and wary than the Dacelo gigantea of New South Wales, of which it is a representative. Mr. Gilbert, whose observations were made on the Cobourg Peninsula, states that it “inhabits well-wooded forests, generally in pairs, is extremely shy and very difficult to procure; it is very fond of perching on the topmost dead branch of a tree, where it has an uninterrupted view of every thing passing around, and pours out its loud discordant tones. Sometimes three or four pairs may be heard at one time, when the noise is so great that no other sound can be heard.

“The natives tell me that it breeds in the honey-season, which is during the months of May, June and July.”

The food of this Kingfisher is doubtless similar to that of the Dacelo gigantea. The stomachs of those examined by Mr. Gilbert were tolerably muscular, and contained the remains of coleopterous and other kinds of insects.

When fully adult the male differs from his mate in having the tail-feathers of a deep and splendid blue instead of brown; a feature which will be readily perceived on reference to the accompanying Plate.

The male has the feathers of the head buffy white, with a central stripe of dark brown, the latter colour becoming most conspicuous on the occiput; throat white; cheeks, ear-coverts, back of the neck, chest and all the under surface sienna-yellow, crossed on the flanks with very minute irregular zigzag bands of brown; primaries black at the tip, white at the base; the base of their external webs, the secondaries and spurious wing rich china blue; greater and lesser wing-coverts, lower part of the back and upper tail-coverts shining light blue; tail and the longest of the upper tail-coverts rich deep blue, the former broadly tipped with white; irides greenish white; upper mandible blackish brown, the cutting edges greenish white; lower mandible greenish white, the base dark brown on the sides, and blue on the under surface; tarsi and feet emerald green; claws black.

The female has the feathers of the head, cheeks, and ear-coverts buffy white, with a central stripe of dark brown; throat white; back of the neck, chest and all the under surface sienna-yellow; the chest, flanks and abdomen crossed by fine zigzag lines of brown; upper part of the back and scapularies umber-brown; primaries blackish brown at the tip and white at the base; the basal portion of their external webs, the secondaries spurious and the wing rich china blue; greater and lesser wing-coverts and upper tail-coverts light shining blue; tail and the longest of the upper coverts rich chestnut-brown, which passes into buff at the tip, the whole transversely marked with eight or nine bands of rich blue black.

The figures are those of the two sexes of the natural size.

HALCYON SANCTUS: Vig. & Horsf.

J. & E. Gould del C. Hullmandel Imp. ]