﻿CEYX SOLTTABIA. 



(SOLITAKY KINGFISHER.) 



Ceyx soUtaria, . . . Temm. PI. Col. 595. 



„ ... Sharpe, P.Z.S. 18G8, p. 271. 



Alcyone „ ... Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, I, p. 82 (c. 1844). 



„ ... Bonap, Consp. Gen. Ay. I, p. 158 (1850). 



„ „ ... Keich. Hand. Alced. p, 7, t. cccxcviii, fig. 3067 (1851). 



Alcedo „ ... Schl. Mus. Pays Bas, Alced. p. 17 (1863). 



„ ... „ Vog. Ned. Ind. Alced. pp. 12, 48, pi. 3 (1864). 



Therosa „ ...... Miiller, MS. 



Ceyx meninting . . . Less. Voy. Coq. I, p. 691 (1826). 



C. rostro nigro: capite cyaneo fasciato : omnino minor : pectore et abdomine flavidis : guhi alba. 

 Hab. in Nova Guinea et in insnlis adjacentibus. 



Head and nape black, banded with bright ultramarine ; back and scapularies rich ultra- 

 marine; cheeks and wing- coverts black, spotted with bright ultramarine ; wing-feathers 

 blackish, the inner web fuscous from the base, the secundaries narrowly edged with blue ; 

 tail black, edged with blue ; throat white ; a spot in front of the eye and a longitudinal patch 

 of feathers on the sides of the neck, yellowish white; entire under-surface light orange; bill 

 entirely black; feet orange. Total length 5 inches, of bill from front 1.3, from gape 1.6, 

 Aving 2.1, tail 0.8, tarsus 0.2, middle toe 0.4, hind toe 0.2. 



Hab. New Guinea (Wallace), Aru Islands (Wallace), Ceram (Mus. Lugd.), Mysol 

 (Wallace). 



On account of its having a black beak, I suppose, this species has been classed by 

 several writers as an Alcyone, but an examination of a specimen will show that it is more 

 closely allied to Ceyx. The gonys is certainly not so abruptly ascending as is usual in the 

 latter genus, but I have seen specimens with a bill quite as much depressed as that of an 

 Alcyone is compressed. Added to this, its habits, which seem to be entirely insectivorous, 

 according to the little we know about them, sufficiently indicate it to be a true ( 1 eyx. 



Mr. Wallace has kindly given me the following note, respecting it : — 



" This little Kingfisher seems to be strictly confined to the Papuan Islands. The 

 stomachs of those I killed contained the remains of water-beetles and other insects." 



Lesson, who has most erroneously referred the present bird to the Alcedo meninting of 



