﻿OEYX WALLACII. 



(WALLACE'S KINGFISHER.) 



Ceij.r Wallacii. . . Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1868, pt. 2. 



., hpida, . . Wall. P. Z. S. 1862, p. 338. 



C. capite nigro cyaneo maculato : rostro corallino, longiori : genia cum regione parotioa cyaneo maculatis : 

 scapularibus nigris : dorso postico et uropygio lsete cyaneis. 



Hab. in insulis dictis " Sula" maris Celebensis. 



Above black; head and nape spotted with cobalt, more on the latter, each feather 

 having a central stripe of brighter blue ; cheeks and wing-coverts streaked with bright 

 cobalt ; back very rich shining cobalt, the upper tail-coverts slightly tinged with ultra- 

 marine ; scapularies black * wing and tail-feathers blackish, the inner web of the former 

 light rufous from the base ; throat whitish ; a spot on each side of the base of the bill 

 and the whole of the under- surface bright orange; the characteristic spot on the sides of 

 the neck deep rufous ; a line at the base of the loral spot, also the space between this 

 spot and the eye, and a large patch of feathers on the side of the upper part of the breast 

 deep black; bill and feet coral-red; iris dark. Total length 5.5 inches, of bill from 

 front 1.4, from gape 1.7, wing 2.5, tail 1, tarsus 0.2, middle toe 0.5, hind toe 0.2. 



Hab. Sula Islands ( Wallace). 



The present species was described by me at a meeting of the Zoological Society on 

 May 14th, 1868, and was named after Mr. Wallace, to whom I am indebted not only for 

 many valuable notes by which these pages are enriched, but for the loan of his entire 

 collection of Kingfishers, thus enabling me to describe the new species discovered by 

 him in almost every case from the type specimens themselves. 



It was in examining his collection that I met with the present bird, which I 

 believed to be new to science, and recent experience has fully confirmed my conviction, 

 for shortly after describing it, I discovered two more specimens in the British Museum, 

 likewise from the Sula Islands. 



I extract the following note from my paper in the 'Proceedings,' which will illustrate 

 the points in which the present species differs from C. lepida. 



" Its nearest ally is certainly C. lepida, but it is at once to be distinguished by the 

 cobalt instead of ultramarine (or rather violet) tinge of the blue on the head, cheeks and 

 back, as well as by the totally black scapularies, which in C. lepida are washed with bright 

 violet. The patch of feathers on each side of the neck is also dark rufous, instead of white 

 tinged with orange, as in C. lepida, and there are other minor differences." 



Mr. Wallace in his paper on the 'Birds of the Sula Islands,' refers to this bird as 

 C. lepida, but he had noted the differences existing in the two birds, and it was by an 

 oversight that the present species was not described as new on that occasion. 



The figure in the accompanying plate is drawn from the type specimen, from which 

 also the description is taken. 



