HALCYON. 373 



llie latter sliyhtly washed with ochreous-huff ; remainder of the under surface and a collar around the 

 hind neck ochreous-buff] becominff slightly darker on the lower sides of the body and the under tail- 

 coverts; bill blackish-broivn, the under portion of basal half of the lower mandible Jleshy-pearly -white ; 

 legs and feet fleshy-grey, the latter having a mealy wash: iris dark brown. Total length in the flesh 

 S'So inches, u)ing 3'7, tail '2'4, bill 1'5, tarsus O'lfS. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Queensland, 

 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. 



WITH the exception of the central portion of the continent, I have examined specimens 

 of the present species from nearly every part of Australia, also from Tasmania, and 

 from many of the Pacific Islands. In the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum,"* Dr. R. 

 Bowdler Sharpe records its ultra Australian range as " New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and 

 New Hebrides, throughout the Papuan Islands to the Moluccas, Celebes, Lombock, Java and 

 Sumatra." In a species so widely distributed, it is not surprising to find there is a variation 

 in size, also in the tints of plumage, especially of the under surface, some adult specimens being 

 much paler, particularly those from very hot districts, than the adult male described on the 

 preceding page. Of the birds obtained by Mr. G. A. Keartland at the Fitzroy River, North- 

 western Australia in 1896-7, while a member of the Calvert Exploring Expedition, he remarks: t — 

 "Their notes were not only totally different from those of the same species found in other parts 

 of the continent, but the birds and their eggs were so much smaller as to suggest the possibility 

 of a different species." 



I can quite understand the difference in the vocal powers, for I have been misled myself 

 by that of the common Black and White Fantail (Saulopvocta mdalcuca). About Sydney this 

 species distinctly utters during the spring and summer months the words " Sweet Pretty Creature." 

 At Moree, in Northern New South Wales, in November, 1897, I followed an unusual wary 

 bird in open forest land for some time, although the "Sweet Pretty" was faintly uttered, 

 it was impossible to syllabicate the remaining note. Ten years later near Brisbane, I noted 

 that the call of Saulopvocta mdalcuca was the same as at Moree and on the Tweed River. The 

 difference in size of Halcyon sanctus is no more than can be noted in birds procured in the same 

 locality. The wing-measurement of the adult male procured by Mr. Keartland near the junction of 

 the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers, in North-western Australia, is 3-6 inches, of an adult male 

 obtained by Mr. E. J. Cairn at Derby 3-7 inches, and of an adult male procured by me at Narrabri, 

 on the Namoi River, New South Wales, in November i8g6, only 3-5 inches. The wing of an adult 

 male obtained at Dobroyde, Ashfield, near Sydney, in August 1897, measures 37 inches, and it is 

 from this locality that the bird with the palest under surface in the Australian Museum collection 

 was procured. It is remarkable that semi-adult specimens have a greater wing-measurement 

 than adult birds, that of a semi-adult female obtained by Dr. E. P. Ramsay at Kingswood, thirty 

 three miles west of Sydney, measuring 3-8 inches. This is an abnormally plumaged specimen, 

 having the crown of the head, nape, mantle and scapulars dingy-black, with a faint olive-green 

 wash on the nape and scapulars; chin and throat white, remainder of the under surface and 

 collar around the hind neck pale ochreous-buff, slightly darker on the sides of the body, all the 

 feathers being narrowly fringed with dull black. 



The Sacred Kingfisher is freely distributed in the spring and summer months throughout 

 Eastern Australia. In the neighbourhood of Sydney it is more commonly met with during the 

 latter end of August or beginning of September, until the middle of March, but I have observed 

 odd birds or pairs throughout the autumn and winter months. Near the coast it chiefly frequents 

 open forest lands, and the taller trees of the brushes and scrubs, and I have found it nesting in 

 the decaying and hollow trunks or branches of trees growing close to sea beaches. Inland, 



* Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XVII., p. 269 (1892). f Trans. Roy. Soc. S. A., Vol. XXII . p. 134 (1898). 

 P p2 



