Part 15

HALCYON SANCTUS, Vig. and Horsf. Sacred Halcyon.

Sacred Kingsfisher, Phill. Bot. Bay, pl. in p. 156.—White’s Voy., pl. in p. 193.

Halcyon Sanctus, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 206.—Gould, Syn. of Birds of Aust., Part III.

Halcyon sacra, Jard. and Selb. Ill. Orn., vol. ii. pls. 96 and 97.

Dacelo chlorocephala, var. β. Less. Traité Orn., p. 246.

Kingsfisher of the Colonists.

Kün-yeë-nüh of the Aborigines, Western Australia.

On reference to the synonyms given above, it will be seen that a difference of opinion is entertained from the authors of the “Illustrations in Ornithology” respecting this species being identical with the Halcyon collaris of Mr. Swainson, a bird which I have not yet seen from Australia, although it may possibly be found in the northern part of that continent, since it is common in Java; and I find that Mr. Swainson, in his recently published “Classification of Birds,” has arranged them as distinct.

The Sacred Halcyon does not inhabit Van Diemen’s Land, but is very generally dispersed over the Australian continent. I have specimens from nearly every locality: those from Port Essington on the north are precisely identical with those of the south coast; on the other hand, those inhabiting Western Australia are a trifle larger in all their measurements, but otherwise present no differences of sufficient importance to warrant their being considered as distinct.

It is a summer resident in New South Wales and throughout the southern portion of the continent, retiring northwards after the breeding-season. It begins to disappear in December, and by the end of January few are to be seen: solitary individuals may, however, be met with even in the depth of winter. They return again in spring, commencing in August, and by the middle of September are plentifully dispersed over all parts of the country, inhabiting alike the most thickly wooded brushes, the mangrove-forests which border, in many parts, the armlets of the sea, and the more open and thinly-timbered plains of the interior, often in the most dry and arid situations far distant from water; and it would appear that, as is the case with many of the insectivorous birds of Australia, a supply of that element is not essential to its existence, since, from the localities it is often found breeding in, it must necessarily pass long periods without being able to obtain it.

The brilliant and metallic lustre of its plumage renders it a conspicuous object in the bush: its loud piercing call, also, often betrays its presence, particularly during the season of incubation, when the bird becomes more and more clamorous as the tree in which its eggs are deposited is approached by the intruder. The note most frequently uttered is a loud pee-pee, continued at times to a great length, resembling a cry of distress. It sits very upright, generally perching on a small dead branch for hours together, merely flying down to capture its prey, and in most instances returning again to the site it has just left. Its food is of a very mixed character, and varies with the nature of the localities it inhabits. It greedily devours the manti, grasshoppers and caterpillars, not refusing lizards and very small snakes, all of which are swallowed whole, the latter being killed by beating their heads against a stone or other hard substance, after the manner of the Common Kingsfisher. Specimens killed in the neighbourhood of salt-marshes had their stomachs literally crammed with crabs and other crustaceous animals; while engaged in the capture of which it may be observed sitting silently on the low mangrove-bushes skirting the pools which every receding tide leaves either dry or with a surface of wet mud, upon which crabs are to be found in abundance. I have never seen it plunge into the water after fish like the true Kingsfishers, and I believe it never resorts to that mode of obtaining its prey. On the banks of the Hunter its most favourite food is the larvæ of a species of ant, which it procures by excavating holes in the nests of this insect which are constructed around the boles and dead branches of the Eucalypti, and which resemble excrescences of the tree itself.

The season of nidification commences in October and lasts till December, the hollow spouts of the gum and boles of the apple trees being generally selected as a receptacle for the eggs, which are four or five in number, perfectly white, one inch and a line in length, and ten lines in diameter.

The sexes present no difference either in their size or colouring, and the young are only distinguished by being of a less brilliant hue, and by the wing-coverts and feathers of the breast being edged with brown.

Crown of the head, back, and scapularies dull green; wings and tail green, slightly tinged with blue; ear-coverts, and an obscure circle bounding the green of the head, greenish black; rump verditer green; throat white; line from the nostrils over the eye, nuchal band, and all the under surface buff, becoming deeper on the flanks; bill black, the basal portion of the under mandible flesh-white; feet flesh-red, tinged with brown; irides dark brown.

The Plate represents an old and a young bird of the natural size.

HALCYON PYRRHOPYGIA: Gould.

J. & E. Gould del,^t C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

HALCYON PYRRHOPYGIA, Gould. Red-backed Halcyon.

Halcyon pyrrhopygia, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., September 8, 1840.

This new Halcyon is an inhabitant of the interior, but over what extent of country it may range is not yet known. The only parts where I observed it was the myall-brushes (Acacia pendula) of the Lower Namoi, particularly those growing on the edge of the large plain skirting the Nundawar range of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell. It was usually seen sitting very upright on the dead branches of the myall- and gum-trees, sometimes on those growing out on the hot plains, at others on those close by the river-side. I succeeded in obtaining both old and young birds, which, judging from the size of the latter, I should suppose had left their breeding-place about a month before I arrived in the neighbourhood of the Namoi, in December. I also saw in this district the common or Sacred Halcyon, but in far less abundance than between the ranges and the coast. This latter species may be hereafter found to be more exclusively an inhabitant of the country bordering the sea, while the Red-backed Halcyon may be exclusively a denizen of the distant interior. The unusual colouring of the back at once distinguishes it from all the other members of the genus inhabiting Australia, but in its general economy and mode of living it presents no observable difference.

Whether it remains during the whole of the year, or is a migratory bird like the common species, I was not able to learn; for although Mr. Charles Coxen had previously informed me of the existence of such a Halcyon on the Namoi, he could give me no further account of it.

Crown of the head dull green, intermingled with white, giving it a striated appearance: a broad black stripe commences at the base of the bill, passes through the eye, and encircles the back of the head; upper part of the back and scapularies green; remainder of the wings bluish green; lower part of the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts red; tail green, tinged with blue; throat, a broad collar encircling the back of the neck, and all the under surface white; bill black, the base of the lower mandible flesh-white; irides blackish brown; feet dark olive-brown.

The figure is of the natural size.

HALCYON SORDIDUS: Gould.

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

HALCYON SORDIDUS, Gould. Sordid Halcyon.

Halcyon sordidus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part X. p. 72.

I possess two specimens of this species of Halcyon, which were killed by Mr. Bynoe on the north coast of Australia; unfortunately they were unaccompanied by any information respecting their habits and economy; they appear to be fully adult, and equal in size the Halcyon collaris,—a species, which, although said to be Australian, I have no authentic evidence of its ever having been killed therein.