CHAP. XXXI.] FINE BIRDS. 243 



goddess kingfisher" (Alcedo dea), from its extreme grace 

 and beauty, the plumage being brilliant blue and white, 

 with the bill red, like coral. Several species of these in- 

 teresting birds are now known, all confined within the 

 very Kmited area which comprises the Moluccas, New 

 Guinea, and the extreme North of Australia. They 

 resemble each other so closely that several of them can 

 only be distinguished by careful comparison. One of the 

 rarest, however, which inhabits New Guinea, is very distinct 

 from the rest, being bright red beneath instead of white. 

 That which I now obtained was a new one, and has been 

 named Tanysiptera hydrocharis, but in general form and 

 coloration it is exactly similar to the larger species found 

 in Amboyna, and figured at page 468 of my first volume. 



New and interesting birds were continually brought in, 

 either by my own boys or by the natives, and at the end of 

 a week Ali arrived triumphant one afternoon with a fine 

 specimen of the Great Bird of Paradise. The ornamental 

 plumes had not yet attained their full growth, but the 

 richness of their glossy orange colouring, and the exquisite 

 delicacy of the loosely waving feathers, were unsurpassable. 

 At the same time a great black cockatoo was brought in, as 

 well as a fine fruit-pigeon and several small birds, so that 

 we were all kept hard at work skinning till sunset. Just 

 as we had cleared away and packed up for the night, a 

 strange beast was brought, which had been shot by the 



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