﻿ALCYONE PUSILLA. 



(LITTLE BLUE KINGFISHER.) 



Ceyx pusilla, .... Temm. PI. Col. 595 (1836). 

 Alcyone pusilla .... Gould, Birds of Austr. II, pi. 36 (1848). 

 Alcedo pusilla, .... Schl. Mus. Pays Bas, Alced. p. 18 (1863). 

 Nu-rea-bin-mo, of the natives of the Coburg peninsula (Gould). 



A. torque pectorali nulla : abdomine albo. 

 Hah. in Australia septentrionali et in sub-regione Austro-Malayana. 



Above rich ultramarine, having a greenish tinge in some lights on the head, cheeks and 

 wing coverts ; quills blackish, the inner web lighter at the base, the outer web distinctly 

 washed with greenish -blue, especially on the secondaries ; tail blue above, black beneath ; 

 a loral spot and a patch of feathers along the sides of the neck, white, the latter slightly 

 tinged with orange; entire under-surface white, with a greenish lustre on the breast in 

 some lights ; shoulders, sides of the breast and flanks, rich ultramarine ; bill and feet 

 greenish-grey ; irides dark blackish brown. Total length 4.8 inches, of bill from front 

 1.15, from gape 1.4, wing 2.0, tail 0.85, tarsus 0.25, middle toe 0.45, hind toe 0.2. 



Hah. Rockingham Bay (Ramsay), Port Essington (Gould), New Guinea (Mailer), 

 Aru Islands (Wallace), Gilolo (Wallace). 



This little species of Kingfisher is confined to the northern parts of Australia, and the 

 islands of the Austro- Malayan sub-region and seems to be everywhere scarce. The original 

 specimens were sent from New Guinea by the dutch traveller von Miiller, and others were 

 afterwards discovered in northern Australia. Mr. Gould has published (I.e.) the following- 

 note respecting it. 



"This lovely little Kingfisher is a native of the northern portions of Australia; the 

 specimens in my collection were all procured at Port Essington, where it is a rare bird ; 

 and from its always inhabiting the densest mangroves, is not only seldom seen, but is 

 extremely difficult to procure; in general habits and manners it very much resembles the 

 Alcyone azurea, but its flight is somewhat more shrill and piping and its flight more 

 unsteady. Specimens of this species from New Guinea, which I have had opportunities of 



Additional references.— Ceyx pusilla, Mull. Verh. Ethn. p. 22 (1839), Gray, P.Z.S. 1858, p. 172, Finsoh, 

 Neu Guinea, p. 16 (1865). Alcyone pusilla, Keich. Handb. Alced. p. 7, t. 398, fig. 3068-69 (1851), Cass. Cat. 

 Hale. Phil. Mus. p. 5 (1852), Macgill. Voy. Rattl. II, p. 356 (1852), Sdater, Proc. Linn. Sor 185*, ]>. 1 72. IWnk 

 Journ. f. Orn. 1864, p. 118, Gould, Handb. Birds of Austr. I. p. 142 (1865), Kamsay, P.Z.S. 1868, p. 383. 

 Alcedo pusilla, Schl. Vog. Ned. Ind. Alced. p.p. 12, 48, pi. 3 (1864). 



