88 
RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 
former indistinctly barred with silvery -blue, the latter with white ; 
tail white, the two centre feathers freckled with dull rufous on 
their basal portion and irregularly barred with the same colour 
except at the tips ; remainder of the tail-feathers barred alter- 
nately with rufous and brown cross-bars for three-fourths of 
their length, the bars decreasing in extent towards the outermost 
feathers where the rufous bars are entirely lost and the brown bars 
become narrow zigzag lines except at the base ; primaries pale 
brown, white at the base ; secondaries pale brown, broadly edged 
with white on their inner webs ; bastard wing, primary and greater 
wing-coverts brown, the innermost series of the latter white ; 
median wing-coverts pale brown, the outermost series largely 
tipped with white and the innermost series with silvery-white ; 
lesser wing-coverts pale brown with whitish tips ; axillaries and 
under primary-coverts white, barred with dusky-brown; remainder 
of the under wing-coverts white, narrowly and indistinctly barred 
with dusky-brown. Upper mandible brown, the lower fleshy- 
white ; iris rich reddish-brown ; legs and feet pale yellowish- 
brown. Total length, 17*3 in. ; wing, 9 in. ; tail, 7 in. ; culmen, 
2 45 in. ; tarsus, T05 inch. Sex $ ad., Reg. No. 0-8269. 
Of the albino specimens of D. gigas in the Museum, the finest . 
example was sent by an unknown donor from Berrima in 1892. 
This bird has the whole of the plumage snow-white, with the 
exception of one or two of the inner and concealed plumes of the 
ear-coverts which are dark brown ; bill dull yellowish-white, with 
a few short patchy streaks of blackish-brown ; legs and feet 
yellow. In another albino specimen obtained at Bowral, and 
presented to the Trustees by the Hon. W. A. Long in 1890, the 
only trace of its normal plumage is likewise in the concealed 
plumes of the ear-coverts, and in a few brown feathers among 
the lesser wing-coverts. 
The tendency to partial or total albinism apparently exists 
more in this species than in any other Australian bird, judging 
by the number of examples represented in the Collection. 
In answer to an inquiry of the Curator’s asking for further 
information regarding this specimen, Mr. Parks writes as follows : 
“ The semi-albino Great Kingfisher I sent you was accidentally 
poisoned by eating mice that had been destroyed by strychnine, 
and was found by one of my men. I had been preserving this 
bird for some years, which used to feed at the door and nest in 
a tree close to the house, and was very sorry when the poor fellow 
died ; at the same time I was glad that it was found before it 
was too far decayed to preserve as a rara avis.” 
