206 ALCEDlNlDJi;. 



2. Dacelo leachii. 



Dacelo leachii, Vig. S,- Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xv. p. 205 (1827, ex 

 Lath. MSS.) ; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 78 (1846) ; id. List Fissir. 

 Brit. Mns. p. 51 (1844) ; Gould, B. Austr. ii. pi. 19 (c. 1848) ; 

 Bjy. Consp. i. p. 154 (1850) ; Eeichenb. Voc/. Neuholl.-p. 210 (1850) ; 

 id. Handb., Alced. p. 41, Taf. 426. figs. 3159-60 (1851) ; Macr/i/l. 

 Vol/. ' Rattlesnake,^ ii. p. 356 (1852) ; Gray, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 189 ; 

 Schl. Mus. Paijs-Bas, Alced. p. 20 (1863); Gould, Kandh. B. 

 Austr. i. p. 124 (1865) ; Ramsay, Ibis, 1865, p. 84: Gray, Hand-l. 

 B. i. p. 89, no. 1061 (1869) ; Sharpe, Monor/r. Alced. p. 289, pi. 113 

 (1870) ; Digf/les, Orn. Austr. pi. 24 (1870) ; Schl. Mus. Fays-Bas, 

 Alced. Revue, p. 11 (1874) ; Casteln. Proc. Li>m. Soc. N. S. W. i. 

 p. 379 (1877 : Norman River) ; Ramsay, op. cit. ii. p. 179 (1878), vii. 

 p. 45 (1883) ; Shar2}e, Voy. H.M.S. ♦ Alert,' -p. 23 (1884) ; Ramsay, 

 Tab. List Austr. B. p. 3 (1888) ; North, Cat. Nests >§• I>/ffS Austr. 

 B.-p.3G 



Adult male. General colour above brown, the feathers lighter 

 brown on their margins, the scapulars and lesser wing-coverts 

 brown like the mantle ; median wing-coverts dusky brown, edged 

 with greenish blue, the inner ones almost entirely silvery blue, 

 forming a largo patch ; greater series dark brown, with a slight 

 greenish edging; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills extern- 

 ally deep blue, blackish at the ends and on the inner web, the 

 primaries with a large patch of white at the base : lower back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts silvery blue ; upper tail-coverts and 

 tail-feathers deep blue, with black shaft-stripes and white tips, 

 increasing in extent towards the outer ones, which have one or two 

 white notches near the ends, the outermost feather being regularly 

 barred with white up the inner web, and freckled with white on 

 the outer one ; crown of head white, streaked with brown centres 

 to the feathers; the eyebrow similarly streaked to the crown, and 

 also the sides of the face and ear-coverts ; a broad white collar 

 round the hind neck, checks, and under surface of the body dingy 

 white, all thickly freckled with wavy cross lines of brown ; under 

 wing-coverts and axillaries white, with less numerous cross lines of 

 blackish brown : " upper mandible brownish black ; lower mandible 

 pale butf ; feet olive ; iris dark brown " {J. Gotdd). Total length 

 17 inches, culmen 2-9, wing 8, tail 5, tarsus 0-95. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in colour, excepting as regards 

 the tail, which is cinnamon-rufous, barred with dark blue, and 

 white at the ends. 



Young males resemble the adult female, and have a red tail, but 

 by the gradual absorption of the blue bars, which amalgamate with- 

 out a moult, the tail becomes entirely blue. 



Hah. Eastern Australia and Northern Australia from Cape York 

 to Port Darwin and Port Essingtou, 



a. [ cJ ] ad. sb. East Coast of Australia. Linnean Socisty [P.]. 



(Type of species.) 



b, c. c? imni. s]{. Queensland (J. T. Coclerell). Salvin-Godman Coll. 

 d,e. cj ? S'd- sk. Queensland (Shaipe Cull.) Tweeddale Coll. 



