﻿CEYX LEPIDA. 



(BEAUTIFUL KINGFISHER.) 



Ceyx lepida, . . . Temm. PL Col. 595. 



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

 Dacelo lepida, . . . Schl. Mus. Pays, Bas, Alced. p. 48 (1863). 



C. capite nigro, cseruleo maculato : rostro corallino, longiori, robustiori : genis et regione parotica cseruleo 

 maculatis : dorso ultramarino, uropygio cyanescente : major: maculis loralibus majoribus : capitis summi maculis 

 et interscapnlio cserulescentioribus. 



Hab. in insulis dictis " Ceram," " Amboina," et in Nova Guinea australi et australi- 

 occidentali. 



Head, nape, cheeks and wing-coverts black, plentifully spotted with rich ultramarine, 

 each feather having a central stripe of brighter blue ; scapularies black, washed with 

 rich ultramarine ; back very bright ultramarine, becoming silvery-blue towards the rump ; 

 wing-feathers blackish, the inner web rufous from the base ; tail blackish, tinged with 

 ultramarine ; throat and a longitudinal patch of feathers on the side of the neck white, 

 the latter tinged with orange ; a large spot in front of the eye, and the entire under- 

 surface orange, paler on the abdomen; bill and feet rich coral-red. Total length 5.5 

 inches, of bill from front 1.5, from gape 1.7, wing 2.5, tail 1, tarsus 0.3, middle toe 0.5, 

 hind toe 0.2 



Hab. Amboina (Wallace), Ceram (Wallace). South and South- West Coast of New 

 Guinea (Wallace, von Rosenberg). 



Specimens of the present species from the above localities have been brought to 

 Europe by Mr. Wallace, but the bird is by no means common in collections in this country. 



Mr. Wallace tells me that "it is the most abundant and characteristic species in the 

 Moluccas. Its habits resembles those of Ceyx rujidorsa, Strickland." 



I have taken my description and measurements from a very beautiful bird in Mr. 

 Wallace's collection, procured by him in Northern Ceram. The left hand figure is 

 drawn from Temminck's type specimen in the Leiden Museum, while the right hand one 

 represents the Ceramese bird. Temminck's specimen is evidently a younger bird. 



Additional Keferences. — Ceyx lepida. Gray, Cat. Fiss. Brit. Mus. p. 59 (1848), Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. I. 

 p. 158 (1850), Reich. Handb. Alced, p. 10, t. cccxcviii, fig. 3066 (1851), Cass. Cat. Hale. Phil. Mus. p. 14 

 (1852), Sharpe, P.Z.S. 1868, p. 271. Dacelo lepida, Schl. Vog. Ned. hid. Alced. pp. 39, 66, pi. 16 (1864). 



