VI 



ALCEDINIDAE 



385 



Sub-fam. 1. Halcyoninae. Tanysiptera sabrina of the Moluc- 

 cas, one of the members of 

 a large and very beautiful 

 genus, is white, except for 

 the crown and wing-coverts, 

 which are bright blue, and 

 the cheeks, nape, remiges, 

 upper back and scapulars, 

 which are bluish - black. 

 The two median rectrices 

 have bluish shafts with 

 white racquet-tips ; the bill 

 is red. T. nympha of New 

 Guinea differs in its blue 

 tail, vermilion rump and 

 under parts. Cittura cya- 

 notis of Celebes has a rufous 

 head and chestnut tail, a 

 brown back with partially 

 buff scapulars, bluish-black 

 wings with blue coverts, 

 a blue eye-streak (black in 

 the female), a lilac under 

 surface, and a dark red bill. 

 Halcyon coromandus of 

 Eastern Asia is brown with 

 a lovely lilac tinge above 

 and a sky-blue rump, the 

 lower parts being orange- 

 rufous, and the bill red. 

 If. cyaniventris of Java is 

 rich blue above ; the head 

 and wing-coverts are mainly 

 black, the lower parts ultra- 

 marine, the throat and 

 cheeks rufous, extending as 

 a collar to the nape ; the bill 



. , , , TT . . FIG. 80. Eacquet-tailed Kingfisher. Tanysiptera 



IS dark red. ff.semicaeruleUS dea , x . (From Malay Archipelago.} 



of Arabia, West and East 



Africa, has a whitish head and under parts, with a chestnut 

 VOL. ix 2 c 



