INSESSORES, 121 



webs of the secondaries, and the basal half of the outer webs 

 of the tail-feathers vivid blue ; six of the primaries with a 

 greenish- white basal band ; extremities of the primaries black ; 

 tail green at the base, black at the tip ; throat vivid blue, 

 with a stripe of lighter blue down the centre of each feather ; 

 under surface of the shoulder and abdomen light green ; under 

 surface of the inner webs of the primaries and of all but the 

 two centre tail-feathers deep blue, the former interrupted by 

 the greenish- white band ; irides dark brown ; eyelash, bill, 

 and feet red ; inside of the mouth yellow. 



Mr. Wallace found this species in the Aru Islands. 



Family ALCEDINID-S3. 



But few of the various families, into which birds have 

 been divided, are more clearly or more distinctly defined 

 than those composing the AlcedinidcB . The bony structure 

 of the whole is very much alike ; and they are all clothed 

 in a similar kind of plumage, differing only in colour. In 

 some genera, as in Dacelo, it is of a sombre character ; 

 while in others, as in Alcedo and Alcyone, the plumage is 

 very beautiful. Some, as the members of the first-mentioned 

 genus, are of large size ; while others are equally diminutive. 

 The various members of the family are dispersed over all 

 parts of the globe, but are most numerous in its tropical 

 and temperate regions. Those inhabiting Australia pertain 

 to four or five very distinct genera, namely, Dacelo, Todi- 

 rhamphus, Syma, Tanysiptera, and Alcyone. 



Genus DACELO, Leach. 



The members of the genus Bacelo are among the largest 

 species of the great family AlcedinidcB, and form a con- 

 spicuous feature in the ornithology of Australia, but, remark- 

 ably enough, are confined to the south-eastern and northern 



