ALCYONE PUSILLA. 
Little Kingfisher 
Ceyx pusilla, Temm. PL Col., 595. fig. 3. 
Nu-rea-bin-mo, Aborigines of the Cobourg Peninsula. 
This lovely little Kingfisher is a native of the northern shores of Australia ; the specimens in my collection 
were all procured at Port Essington where it is a rare bird ; and from it always inhabiting the densest 
mangroves, is not only seldom seen, but is extremely difficult to procure ; in general habits and manners 
it very much resembles the Alcyone azarea, but its note is somewhat more shrill and piping, and its flight 
more unsteady. Specimens of this species from New Guinea, which I have had opportunities of examining 
in the noble collection at Leyden, present no difference whatever from those found in Australia. 
The food of the Alcyone pusilla consists exclusively of fish, which are taken precisely after the manner of 
the Common Kingfisher of our own island. 
The sexes are alike in size and colour. 
Lores, a tuft behind the ear-coverts and under surface silky white ; forehead, sides of the neck, wing- 
coverts and the margins of the secondaries green ; primaries brownish black ; all the upper surface and a 
large patch on each side on the chest brilliant intense blue ; tail dull deep blue ; irides dark blackish brown ; 
bill black ; legs and feet greenish grey. 
The figures are of the natural size. 
