﻿representative, and may at once be distinguished by the bill. In S. torotoro both mandibles 

 are rich orange-yellow, while in S. flavirostris the bill is lighter yellow and has the culmen 

 brown towards the tip. In the females of the two species, however, I find a difference which 

 seems to have hitherto escaped the notice of Ornithologists. The female of S. torotoro is 

 black on the top of the head from the base of the bill to the occiput, while the female of 

 S. flavirostris has the forehead orange and only the middle of the head black. This differ- 

 ence is well exhibited by Mr. Keulemans in the plates accompanying the descriptions of 

 these two Kingfishers. 



The present species appears to be very rare even in Australia. In a letter dated April 

 7th, 1868, my friend Mr. E. P. Ramsay of Dobroyde, near S}<dney, N.S.W. writes tc me, 

 " S. flavirostris is very rare ; I have only met with one and that a very bad skin." 



The following very interesting note of Mr. Macgillivray's is extracted from Mr. Gould's 

 "Handbook" (I.e.):— 



" The Poditti, as it is called by the aborigines, appears to be a rare bird; for although 

 it was much sought for, not more than four or five examples were obtained during our 

 stay. Like the Tanysiptera sylvia, it is an inhabitant of the brushes, while the S. torotoro 

 of New Guinea is a mangrove bird. I myself saw it alive only once, in a belt of tall 

 trees, thick underwood and clumps of the Seaforthia palm fringing a small stream about 

 three miles from the sea. Attracted by the call of the bird which was recognised by the 

 accompanying natives as that of the much- prized Poditti, three or four of us remained 

 for about ten minutes almost under the very tree in which it was perched, intently looking 

 out for the chance of a shot, before I discovered it on a bare transverse branch, so high up 

 as scarcely to be within range of small shot ; however, it fell, but our work was only half 

 over, as the wounded bird eluded our search for a long time ; at length one of our sable 

 allies — his eyes brightened, I dare say, by visions of a promised axe, discovered it lying 

 dead in a corner to which it had retreated. The more intelligent natives whom I 

 questioned separately agreed in stating that its mode of nidification is similar to that of 

 the Tanysiptera sylvia, and that, like that species, it lays several white eggs." 



The figures in the plate represent a pair in my own collection from Cape York Penin- 

 sula, and the descriptions and measurements are also taken from the same birds. 



