﻿SYMA FLAVIROSTRIS. 



(AUSTRALIAN SAW-BILLED KINGFISHER.) 



Halcyon (Syma ?) flavirostris, . . Gould, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 200. 



„ „ „ „ Contr. to Orn. 1850, p. 105. 



Halcyon flavirostris, . . „ Birds of Austr. Suppl. pt 1, pi. — (1851). 



Syma flavirostris, .... Iieich. Handb. Alced. p. 44, t. ccccxxx, fig. 3171-72 (1851). 



„ „ .... Gould, Handb. Birds of Austr. I, p. 135 (1865). 



Halcyon torotoro .... Macgill. Voy. Battl. II, p. 356 (1852). 



S. minor : pileo aurantio-rufo : rostro flavo, culmine versus apicem nigro : Cauda riridi-coerulea : tectricibus 

 alarum viridi-fuscis. — Fern, pileo medio nigro et vitta nuchali nigra distinguenda. 



Hab. in peninsula Australian septentrionalis "Cape York" dicta. 



Male. — Head and neck orange- rufous ; a little patch of feathers in front of the eye, 

 a longitudinal stripe of feathers on each side of the neck, and the upper part of the back, 

 black ; scapularies and wing-coverts dusky-greenish; wing-feathers blackish, the inner web 

 rufous from the base ; lower part of the back and upper surface of the tail greenish-blue, 

 under surface of the latter blackish-brown ; chin white; under- surface of the body light 

 orange, paler on the abdomen; bill yellow, the culmen brownish-black; feet orange. 

 Total length 7 inches, of bill from front 1.3, from gape 1.8, wing 2.8, tail 2.4, tarsus 0.4, 

 middle toe 0.6, hind toe 0.05. 



Female. — Similar to the male, but a trifle larger, the colours more dingy, and the 

 middle of the crown of the head black ; the black stripe at the sides of the neck more 

 distinct and forming a complete band in some specimens. 



Hab. Cape York Peninsula, N. Australia (Macgillivray). 



I have examined many specimens of this rare Kingfisher, and believe it to be quite 

 distinct from the allied species Syma torotoro from New Guinea. By Dr. Sclater and Pro- 

 fessor Schlegel the present species has been considered to be only the young of the New 

 Guinea bird, but at the time that, Dr. Sclater wrote, Syma torotoro was only known from 

 Lesson's figure in the " Zoologie" of the Voyage of the Coquille. But we are now well 

 acquainted with both species, and I have lying before me at the present moment four speci- 

 mens of Syma jiavirostrw out of my own collection, and a very beautiful pair of Syma 

 torotoro procured by Mr. Wallace, and kindly lent to me out of his collection. I find that 

 the present species is altogether smaller and less brightly coloured than its New Guinea 



