﻿TANYSIPTERA HYDROCHARIS. 



(ARU ISLAND KINGFISHER.) 



Tanysiptera hydrocharis, Gray, P.Z.S. 1858, p. 172. 



Dacelo hydrocharis, Schl. Mas. Pays Bas, Alced. p. 46 (1863). 



T. macula dorsali alba nulla: uropygio albo: cauda spatulata: genis, regione parotica et collo postico nigris : 

 rectricibus exterioribus nigris, casruleo marginatis. 



Hah. in insvilis "Aru" dictis. 



Adult. Crown of the head light cobalt, blackish on the forehead and brighter along 

 the sides of the head ; cheeks, ear-coverts, and nape black ; scapularies, middle of the back, 

 and wing-coverts black, washed with ultramarine, brighter on the latter ; wing-feathers 

 black, white at the base, washed with ultramarine on the outer web ; rump pure white ; 

 tail black, broadly washed with dark blue ; middle feathers blue edged with white near the 

 base, and terminating in an elongated white spatula ; entire under-surface white; bill coral- 

 red; feet dusky reddish olive ; eyes dark-brown. Total length 13*3 inches, of bill from front 

 l'O, from gape 1*4, wing 3*5, tail 33, middle tail-feathers 9'0, tarsus 3'6, middle toe 0*6, 

 hind toe 025. 



Young. Head blackish-brown ; a line of feathers extending from the base of the bill 

 backwards over the eye, pale fulvous brown; back, scapularies, and wing-coverts dark brown, 

 strongly tinged with dark ochre, especially on the rump and wing-coverts, the latter being 

 conspicuously edged with ochre ; quills blackish brown, fulvous at the base, the primaries 

 externally edged with whitish-brown, the secondaries with dark ochre, this colour being 

 spread over the whole of the innermost secondary quills ; tail ochreous brown, the middle 

 feathers tinged with dull blue ; ear-coverts dark brown ; cheeks mixed dark brown and 

 ochre ; sides of the neck and entire breast ochre margined with blackish brown, the lower 

 part of the abdomen white ; throat pure white, with a line of brown feathers running down 

 each side of it; bill dark horn brown, paler on the lower mandible; feet olive brown. 

 Total length 5*3 inches, of bill from front 8, wing 3*0, tarsus 3'55. 



Hah. Aru Islands (Wallace, von Rosenberg). 



Additional references. — Tanysiptera hydrocharis, Gray, Cat. Mamm. and B. of N. Guin. pp. 20, 55 (1850); id. 

 P.Z.S. 1860, p. 347; Cab. and Heine, Mus. Hein. th. II, p. 162 (1860); Gray, P.Z.S. 1861, p. 433 ; Wall. 

 P.Z.S. 1863, p. 24; Rosenb. Journ. f. Orn. 1864, p. 118; Schl. Ned. Tijdsehr. Ill, pp. 260, 340 (1865); Sharpe, 

 P.Z.S. 1869, p. 631. Dacelo hydrocharis, Schl. Vog. Ned. Ind. Alced. pp. 36, 65, pi. 15 (1864). 



