THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Halcyon sancta {nec Vigors and Horsfield) Biggies, Orn. Austr., pt. ii., pi. only, 1866. 
Halcyon barnardi Campbell, Emu, Vol. X., p. 338, 1911: Lockerbie, Cape York; 
H. L. White, ih., p. 340 (N.Q.) ; Barnard, ih., Vol. XI., p. 24, 1911 (N.Q.). 
Halcyon macleayii macleayii Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 288, 1912. 
Halcyon macleayii barnardi Mathews, ib. 
Halcyon macleayii distinguendus Mathews, ib., South Alligator River, Northern Territory. 
Halcyon macleayii publa Mathews, Austral Avian Record, Vol. I., p. 38, 1912 : Melville 
Island. 
Cyanalcyon macleayii macleayii Mathews, List Birds Austr., p. 148, 1913. 
Cyanalcyon macleayii barnardi Mathews, ib. 
Cyanalcyon macleayii distinguendus Mathews, ih. 
Cyanalcyon macleayii publa Mathews, id., ih. 
Halcyon macleayii cmruleus Ashby, South Austr. Ornithologist, Vol. I., pt. i., p. 20, Jan., 1914 : 
Port Keats, Northern Territory. 
Bisteibution. New South Wales ; Queensland ; Northern Territory. 
Adult male. Crown of head very dark purplish-blue ; upper back, wings, and tail dark 
ultramarine blue ; scapulars, lower back, and central upper tail-coverts inclining 
to cobalt-blue with a wash of green on the scapulars ; inner webs of primary and 
secondary quills blackish edged with white on the basal portion of the four outer 
primaries, the remainder banded with white on both webs ; lores, sides of face, 
and ear-coverts black ; a large white supra-loral sjjot ; a white collar on the hind 
neck which encroaches more or less on to the base of the feathers on the nape, some 
of the feathers slightly tipped with blackish ; cliin, throat, and entire under- 
surface white including the axillaries and under wing-coverts, the flanks slightly 
tinged with pale isabeUine, under-surface of quills glossy brown, white on the inner 
basal portion ; lower aspect of tail blackish-brown. Eyes brown ; feet and tarsi 
brownish-black. Bill black, basal half of lower mandible whitish. Total length 
210 mm. ; culmen 33, wing 91, tail 59, tarsus 14. Figured. Collected on Melville 
Island, Northern Territory, on the 25th of June, 1912. 
Adult female. Lacks the white nuchal collar, the colour of the head taking its place. 
Immature. Have the nuchal collar and the spot above the eye cinnamon, head black 
with brown margins to the feathers, back greenish-brown, under surface tinged 
with buff. 
Nest. A hoUowed-out white ants’ nest (placed in a tree). 
Eggs. Clutch, four to six. White and roundish. 23 to 24 mm. by 20 to 21. 
Breeding-season. October to Becember. 
Generally of a more northern habitat than the commoner Kingfishers, 
this beautiful species was named from a specimen with no definite locality, 
and on account of the difference in the coloration of the sexes Gould described, 
a few years later, the female as a new species. He indicated New South 
Wales as the locality of his new form and, to avoid confusion, this locality 
was designated as the type locality of the earlier name. By tliis means 
Gould’s name became an absolute synonym, as he himself denoted. 
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