MELIDORA MACRORHINA.
Hook-billed Kingfisher.

Dacelo macrorhinus, Less. Voy. Coquille, Zoolocie
xi. p. 131 (1827).—Id. Voy. Coquille
Gray, Cat. B. New Guinea, Pal gnG
Melidora euphrosie, Less. Traité @’Orn. p.

» Atlas is .
i i pl. 31 bis, fig. 2 (1826).—Id. Féruss. Bull. Sci. Nat.
we 700". 1. p. 692 (1828).—Id. Man. d’Orn. ii. p. 94 (1828),—
859).—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 154
259 (1831).—Id.C ; eee
Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. i, p. 150 eee I ee ae Pale i
ie ov).—Hinseh, I -Gui . aT
Dacelo macrorhynchus, Less. Traité d’Orn. p. 249 (1831) ee el ape o0 (1865),
Melidora macrorhyncha, Gray, List Gen. Bi i |
s » UISt Gen. Birds, i. p. 10 (1840).—Id. List G ;
B. i. p. 89, no. 1067 (1869).—R yal bar rch: Binds)\p. 14 G@isd))ealciaatanc
’ : o09).—hamsay, Proc. J; S New & Wz Pee £ :
(1879). y, Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. W ales, ili, p. 252 (1878), iv. p. 97
Dacelo macrorhynchus, Gray, Genera of Birds, i. p. 78 (1846)

Melidora macrorhina, Reichenb. Handb. spec. Orn. Alced. p. 41, sp. 99, Taf. 428. fies. 3166-7 (1851).—Sel
» Sp. 99, Lat. 428. fies. = 01).—»clater,

Journ. Linn. Soe. ii. p. 156 (1858).—Sharpe cedini
aaron 7 Dh are Mon. Alcedinide, p. 120 (1871).—Beccari, Ann. Mus. Civ.
mova, Vil. p. 708 (1875).—Salvad. tom. cit. p. 766, viii. p- 398 (1876).—Cab. & Reicher c
RON e  oes-saca | i pone 876).—Cab. & Reichenow, Journ. f.
76, p- 323.—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, xi. pp. 128, 303; xiii. p. 319 (1878).—lId. Or
Papuasia, &c. i. p. 500 (1881). , ae
Meldora euphrosine, Reichenb. loc. cit. ;
Orn. 1861, p. 117.
Melidora euphrasie, Bp. Consp. Vol. Anisod. p. 9 (1854).
Dacelo macrorhynchus, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 189.—Id. C
Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 433.
Dacelo macrorhina, Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Alcedinida, p. 22 (1863).—Id. Vog. Ned. Ind. Alced DD. 17, Hil, Fol
S SeAUCCO mam Ae onlem Ole
4. fig. 1 (1864).—Id. Mus. Pays-Bas, Alced. (Revue), p. 18 (1874).—-Giebel, Thes. Orn. ii. Dena loro)
Melidora goldici, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. Wales, i. p. 369 (1876).
Melidora collaris, Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soe. xiii. p. 313) (1877):

Rosenb. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. xxv. p- 230 (1863).—Id. Journ. f.

at. B. New Guinea, p. 54 (1859).—Id. Proce.

 

Ir is to Count Salvadori that we owe our knowledge of the plumages through which this extraordinary
form of Kingfisher passes. Mr. Bowdler Sharpe, in his Monograph of the family, seems to have been
acquainted with the female bird only ; and at the time that he wrote, very few specimens existed in European
museums. More recently, however, Mr. Bruijn and the well-known Italian traveller Signor D’Albertis have
forwarded to the Genoa museum a large series of specimens, while it has also been obtained by other
yaturalists in South-eastern New Guinea. The late Dr. James met with if near Hall Bay ; and Mr. Ramsay
has recorded it from the interior of the country near Port Moresby. We have also seen specimens
collected near East Cape by Mr. Hunstein, and by Mr. Goldie on the Astrolabe range.

The south-eastern specimens were described independently by Mr. Ramsay and Mr. Sharpe as a distinct
species ; but Count Salvadori compared the type of Melidora collaris with others from North-western New
Guinea, and feels certain that it is nothing but the ordinary adult male of MV. macrorhina.

The present species was discovered by Lesson during the voyage of the ‘ Coquille,’ near Dorey, where also
Mr. Wallace and Von Rosenberg met with it. It has likewise been found by the latter collector, and by
Signor D’Albertis at Andai; while Dr. Beccari met with it at Warbusi, and D’Albertis at Ramoi. It inhabits
likewise the islands of Salawati, Batanta, Waigiou, and Mysol. Professor Schlegel states that the specimens
in the Leyden Museum from Waigiou differed in having the spots on ‘ie back ae ee clearer, and of a
bright greenish yellow ; but Count Salvadori could not find any points of difference in individuals collected in
that island by Beccari and Bruijn. We are still without any exact information as to the habits of this
peculiar Kingfisher, whose hooked bill would seem to be adapted for some special purpose in the capture of
its prey. oy

I here translate the description of the sexes given 1 Co
synonymy of the species has been derived.

Adult male. Head black, feathers margined with blue, ied from (he bie Dee
the eyes, rufous ; cheeks and ear-coverts black, the former separat fe ae
round the neck a black collar, succeeded by a white one ;
rgins to the feathers, those of the rump
: argined with rufous, internally
to the feathers of the throat

unt Salvadori’s work, from which also the

a spot on each side of the forehead, extending above
starting from the angle of the mouth ;

a mhrace c ve ma
of the upper surface dusky brown, with broad ochraceous yellow mé

; ‘ » secondaries externally m
and upper tail-coverts more yellow; quills dusky, the secondaries - | ee
: us er rrow dusky e
with broad fulvous edges ; beneath dull white, with very narrow ¢ ky edg

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