KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 52. N:o |7. 75 
Mowulting. — Specimen ”"/1, S, is in typical moulting. The new feathers of the 
crown of the head have broad, barred edges, the old ones have been sharpened to 
a, pencil at the point (Plate 2, fig. 12 a, 12 b). Plate 2, fig. 14 shows the peculiar 
breaking off phenomenon in an old, worn feather. Pins in all parts. The old feathers 
of the back faint brown, the new ones dark-brown with a slate-coloured tint. The 
tail-feathers blue, 4 of them are growing out. Wings fully grown out. 
Specimen "/12 is in typical moulting. Specimen ”'/ in typical moulting too. The 
new feathers of the back have a bluish tint at the point (of the brown part). Such a 
tint might appear in order to disappear later on, when the feather is fully out-grown. 
With regard to the change of the juvenal Cat. of birds says (cf. Dacelo leachi): 
» Young males resemble the adult female, and have a red tail, but by the gradual 
absorbtion of the blue bars, which amalgamate without a moult, the tail becomes 
entirely blue.» (!) 
Moulting-season. — Comes in Dec.—Jan., there are specimens from both 
months in typical moulting. 
Ecological. — The big kingfisher was generally found at all the places which 
the Expedition visited, except at Sunday Island, where it was lacking. Male and 
female often kept together, as one saw small flocks. Especially during the sum- 
mer and even on moonlight nights their curious screams were heard, when some- 
thing unusual happened in the bush. One bird had devoured a lizard, which was 
STAM LONG: 
One specimen of D. gigas was brought to Sweden by the Expedition (from 
Queensland) where it is still (1917) living in the zoological section of Skansen in 
Stockholm. 
Fam. Meropidee. 
Merops ornatus (LATH.). 
Math. handl. n:r 396. 9 ad. Derby, Kimb. !$/10 1910 (brooding); J ad., 3 SS juv. Nooncanbah, 
Fitzroy r. 0/12, 9/12, !/12 1910, moult.; £/1 1911, moult.; 2 ad., 9 juv. !t/12 1910, worn specimen, ?7/12 moult. 
head, breast, back, wing-coverts; 98 ad., ibid. 4/1 1911, mouilt.: all over; SJ ad., 3 29 ad. Hot Spring !!/3 
1911, moult.; /s 1911, moult. tail, chin, head, breast. 
Juvenals. — S juv. from ”/12, S juv. from !"/12, £ juv. from ?"/12, S juv. from "i. 
— These four juvenals all have the typical plumage without any black spot on the 
throat and without »spears» on the middle tail-feathers. In addition the plumage 
differs from that of the adult birds by having both the back and lover part tinged 
with cobalt blue and the crown of the head being cobalt green, not yellowish green. 
Variants. — Three adult birds of Dec. and the beginning of Jan., which are 
in full moulting, have a strong watering in cobalt blue on the back. That is due 
to old feathers with blue edges, mixed among the newly-acquired green ones. This 
is also the case with the patch on the throat as well, which is cobalt blue in some 
specimens. Here, however, the blue is due to new edges of the feathers (cf. for the 
rest the moulting). 
