﻿ALCYONE DIEMENSIS. 



(VAN DIEMEN'S LAND KINGFISHER.) 



Alcyone diemenensis Gould, P. Z. S. 1846, p. 19. 



Alcyone azurea Ewing. Tasm. Jourii. I, p. 56 (1842, nec Lath.) 



A. torque pectorali nullo : abdomine rufo : rostro tenuiore, breviore : pileo nigro indistincte fasciato. 



Hab. in Tasmania. 



Above deep blue, a little brighter on the rump, the head having the appearance of beint: 

 indistinctly banded with dusky black ; cheeks, ear-coverts, scapularies, and wing-covert> 

 black washed with blue; wing-feathers blackish, the inner web light rufous from the base, 

 the outer web distinctly washed with blue ; tail blue above, black beneath; a small loral 

 spot, a patch of feathers along the sides of the neck, and the throat white tinged with rufous ; 

 the whole of the under surface of the body deep rufous, with a very faint lilac lustre on the 

 flanks; a large patch of feathers on the sides of the upper part of the breast black, with a 

 slight blue lustre; bill black; feet red. Total length 6 inches, of bill from front 1*4, from 

 gape 1/9, wing 3*1, tail 1*35, tarsus 0*3, middle toe 0*55, hind toe 0'25. 



Hab. Tasmania (Gould). 



Mr. Gould first separated this species from Alcoynd azurea, and I have in a recent 

 paper on the genus A Icyone kept it distinct. It can, however, be considered little more than 

 a climatic variety of the Australian bird. 



In one of his letters my friend Mr E. P. Ramsay writes to me : — 



" This species seems to have become very scarce of late years, and is rarely seen even 

 in the most unfrequented parts of Van Diemen's Land. It differs slightly in colour and 

 markings from A. azurea, and also in size, being scarcely so large." 



The description and measurements are from a Tasmanian skin in my collection. 



Additional references. — Alcyone dicmensis, Gould, Introd. Birds of Austr. p. 31 (1848) ; Gray, Gon. of Birds, 

 I. p. 82 (c. 1844) ; Kaup, Fam. Alced. p. 18 (1848) ; Eeich. Vog. Neuholl. p. 278 (1850) ; Cab. & Heine, Muh. 

 Hein, th. II. p. 143 (1860); Gould, Handb. Birds of Austr. I. p. 141 (1865); Sharpe, P.Z.S. 1869, p. 355. 



