﻿DACELO TYRO. 



(MANTLED KINGFISHER.) 



Dacelo tyro, . . Gray, P.Z.S. 1858, p. 171, pi. 



Sauromarptis tyro, . Cab. and Heine, Mus. Hein. th. II, p. 164, note (18G0). 



D. scapularibus et interscapulio nigerrimis : sexibus vix distinguendis : pileo cum genis et rogione parotica 

 nigns, ochraceo raaculatis : torque cervicali et dorso superiori nigris, ochraceo fasciatis : pectore ochraceo. 



Hob. in insulis Papuanis dictis " Aru." 



Head, cheeks and ear- coverts black, spotted with light ochre; back and sides of the 

 neck together with the upper part of the back black, banded with deeper ochre ; scapularies 

 black ; wing-coverts black, broadly washed with bright blue ; wing-leathers blackish, the 

 inner web light rufous from the base, the exterior web broadly margined with indigo, more 

 especially on the secondaries ; lower part of the back and upper tail coverts bright cobalt ; 

 tail above indigo, beneath black ; throat whitish ochre ; under-surface of the body deep 

 ochre, deepest on the flanks and under tail-coverts ; bill with the upper mandible deep black, 

 the lower manbible yellow ; feet dusky black. Total length 12 inches, of bill from front 1.6, 

 from gape 2.5, wing 6, tail 4.7, tarsus 0.6, middle toe 1, hind toe 0.4. 



Hab. Aru Islands ( Wallace, von Rosenberg). 



This remarkably handsome species, justly characterized by Mr. Gould as " one of the 

 finest of Mr. Wallace's discoveries," seems to be confined to the Aru Islands. Professor 

 Schlegel in the "Museum des Pays Bas" and again in his " Vogel van Nederlandsch 

 Indie" insisted that it was. only the young of Dacelo Gaudichaudi, a conclusion that a sub- 

 sequent consideration compelled him to rectify (I.e.), and he now recognises it as a distinct 

 species. Mr. Gould has given a very beautiful plate in the twelfth part of his " Birds of 

 Asia" representing the male and female. 



The habits of the present bird exactly resemble those of D. Gaudichaudi according to 

 Mr. Wallace. My description and measurements are taken from a finely preserved skin in 

 his collection, procured by him in the Aru Islands. The female resembles the male, with 

 the exception of the wing-feathers and the tail, which have a greenish tinge. 



Additional references. — Dacelo tyro, Gray, Cat. Birds from New Guinea, p. 19 (1858J, id. P. Z. S. 1861, 

 p. 433, Gould, Birds of Asia, pi.— (I860), Bosenb. Joiun. f. Orn. 1864, p. 118, Schlegel, Ned. Tidsehr. 1866, p. 



