﻿HALCYON PYRRHOPYGIA. 



(RED-BACKED KINGFISHER.) 



Halcyon pyrrhopygia 

 Todiramphus pyrrhopygius 

 Cyanalcyon pyrrhopygia . 

 Sauropatis pyrrhopygia . 

 Dacelo pyrrhopygia . 



Gould, P.2.S. 1840, p. 113. 



Bonap. Consp. Gen. At. I, p. 157 (1850). 



Bonap. Consp. Yol. Anis. p. 9 (1854). 



Cab. and Heine, Mus. Hein. th. H, p. 161 (1860). 



Schl. Mus. Pays Bas, Alced. p. 39 (1863). 



H. dorso postico et uropygio runs. 



Hah. in parte centrali Australasias. 



Head bright green, striped with white, more distinctly over the eye, thus forming a 

 white eyebrow ; cheeks and a narrow line round the back of the neck black ; a spot in front 

 of the eye and a collar round the neck white ; middle of the back, scapulars, and wing- 

 coverts bright greenish-blue ; lower part of the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts bright 

 chesnut ; quills blackish, white on the inner web ; the outer web, especially of the 

 secondaries, edged externally with blue, and all except the primaries tipped with white, the 

 outermost primary, however, being edged with the latter colour; tail-feathers bright 

 greenish-blue above, blackish beneath, all the feathers tipped and the outermost edged with 

 white ; entire under-surface pure white ; bill blackish, yellowish at the base ; feet dark 

 olive-brown; eye blackish- brown. Total length 8*7 inches, of bill from front 1*5, from 

 gape 2*0, wing 4*1, tail 2*6, tarsus 0*4, middle toe 0*7, hind toe 0"25. 



Hah. Central Australia {Gould, Ramsay). 



No other Halcyon can be confounded with the present bird, which is at once to be dis- 

 tinguished from the other species of the genus by its red back. It is a very rare bird in 

 collections, and the following appears to be all that is known of its habits and economy. 

 Mr. Gould, in his recent "Handbook," publishes the accompanying details: — 

 " This Kingfisher is an inhabitant of the interior, but over what extent of country is 

 not yet known. The only parts where I myself observed it were the myall bushes (Acacia 

 pendula) of the lower Namoi, particularly those growing on the edge of the large plain 

 skirting the Nundawar range. It Avas usually seen sitting very upright on the dead 



Additional references. — Halcyon pyrrhopygia, Gray, Gen. of B. I, p. 79 (184G) ; Gould, Intr. B. of Austr. 

 p. 30 (1848); id. B. of Austr. II, pi. 22 (1848); Gray, Cat. Fiss. Brit. Mus. p. 57 (1848); Keich. Yog. Neuholl. 

 p. 277 (1850); Gray, Handl. of B. I, p. 92 (1869). Todiramphus pyrrhopygius, Reich. Handb. Alced. I, p. 33, 

 t. ccccxx, fig. 3141 (1850); Cass. Cat. Hale. PML Mus. p. 4 (1852);* id. U.S. Expl, Exp. p. 218 (1858); Gould, 

 Handb. B. of Austr. I, p. 130 (1865). 



