363 



Dacelo leachii. 



LEACH'S KINGFISHER. 

 Dacelo leachii, Vig. and Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XV., p. -205 (1826 ex Lath., MSS.); Gould, 

 Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. II., pi. 19 (1848); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XVIL, p. 206 

 (1892); id., Hand-1. Bds., Vol II., p. 55 (1900). 



Adult male — General coluiir dhore brown with ])aler brown maryiiis to the feathers ; centre of 

 upper back white; lower back and rump silvery-blue; up2jer tail-coverts brotim washed tvith blue, the 

 larger ones having a sub-apical whitish streak except near the shaft, and narrotvly edged with white at 

 the tip; tail feathers deep blue tipped with white, these tips increasing in size towards the outermost 

 feather on either side, and all except the central pair irregularly barred with deep blue passing into dark 

 brown towards the margin of the inner web, the white interspaces of some of the feathers near the central 

 pair tvashed with rufous; lesser wing-coverts brown with paler brown margins, the median coverts broum, 

 broadly tipped with blue, the inner ones silvery-blue on their apical half, white on the basal half, most of 

 them unth a more or less concealed spot or bar nf liro)rn in the centre ; quills blackish-brown on their inner 

 webs and tips, dark blue on their outer oin's, hnse if the primaries white; crown and sides of the head 

 white streaked with dark brown, collar round the hind neck white, some of the feathers with a very 

 narroiv transverse blackish-brown bar across the centre; chin and upper throat dull white, remainder 

 of the under surface dull white, each feather having two or more wavy cross bars or lines of brown; the 

 under tail-coverts a slightly purer white and similarly crossed with lines of brown; bill brown, the 

 cutting edge of the basal portion of the upper mandible and the entire lower mandible, except a brown 

 spot at the side of the base,fleshy-brmvnish-white; "legs and feet fleshy-brown ; iris 'white " (Barnard). 

 Totiil Irii'jfh 15'5 inches, whig 7'S, tail o-o, bill 2'35, tdrsns 1. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male but slightly larger, the outer webs of the quills 

 edged tvith dull greenish-blue, instead of being entirely deep blue as in the male, and the upper tail- 

 coverts and tail feathers cinnamon-rufous, conspicuously barred with dark blue. Wing 8 inches. 



Distribution — Eastern Queensland. 

 /~|(^ HE type of this remarkably handsome Kingfisher was described by Messrs. Vigors and 

 J- Horsfield in the " Transactions of the Linnean Society of London," and named in 

 honour of Dr. William Leach, and they remark : — " The specimen of this species in the Society's 

 collection was presented by Mr. Brown, who discovered it on the 24th October, 1802, in Keppel 

 Bay, on the East Coast (Queensland). The species was subsequently met with at Shoalwater 

 Bay, Broad Sound, on the same coast." 



Leach's Kingfisher is smaller than the preceding" species, Dacelo gigas, the wing-measurement 

 of adult males varying from half an inch to seven-tenths of an inch shorter than in that species. 

 What, however, it lacks in size, which is not so apparent, is more than compensated for by the 

 more brilliantly coloured plumage of its wings, rump and tail. Of the specimens in the Australian 

 Museum collection, there is an adult male and a female procured by Mr. George Masters near 

 Brisbane, Queensland, in April, 1865. In addition to the difference in sexual characters of the 

 plumage, pointed out above, the females have usually a larger and more robust bill. Specimens 

 from Cairns and Cooktown may be distinguished by a very slight tinge of buff on the under tail- 

 coverts. Wing 77 inches. Apparently this buff wash to the under parts increases, and the 

 size decreases, the farther north the specimens are obtained. In very old birds of both se.\es, too, 

 the feathers of the head, which are sub-crested, have the blackish-brown central streaks down the 

 feathers of the crown of the head very much narrower, while immature birds have them broader, 

 the females also having the blue cross-bars on the tail broader than in the adult bird. Many 

 adult males have no rufous wash on the interspaces of the apical portion of the inner webs of the 

 tail feathers. 



