THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
coloration on the head, and having the humerals and rump of a bright 
brilliant blue. 
South Alligator River, Northern Territory. 
Northern Territory.” 
When Rogers sent me the Melville Island birds he remarked that 
these seemed to be typical H. macleayii as he knew it from the north-west, 
the form I had named H. m. distinguendus. Upon comparison, I foimd that 
these did differ from the adjacent continental bird, so named them 
“ Halcyon mad,myii puhla 
“ Differs from H, m. distinguendus in having the back and humeral 
greenish-blue, and in its smaller bill. 
MelviUe Island.” 
The distinction of the Western form was amply confirmed by its 
independent description by Mr. Edwin Ashby in the South Australiayi 
Ornithologist, Vol. I., pt. i., p. 20, January, 1914, as “ Halcyon maclmyii 
cceruleus subsp. n. The Northern Forest Kingfisher. The specimen 
described hereunder was obtained at Anson Bay, Northern Territory. This 
subspecies is easily distinguished from its congener, H. macleayii, b3’ its 
much more intense and brilliant blue coloration, the green shades of 
the latter are entirely absent and the white collar of the hind neck is 
more marked in the species under review. . . . Further investigation may 
show this bird to be identical v^dth Halcyon macleayii distinguendus Mathews.” 
In my “ List ” published at the end of 1913 I recognised the genus 
Gyanalcyon and there admitted four subspecies : (7. m. ynacleayii, C, m. 
harnardi, C. m. distinguendus, and C. m. puhla. 
As the species occurs outside Australia, it has been treated by 
extra-limital workers, but with little profit, as good series were not avail- 
able. Thus, deahng with one specimen from the Mimiki River, Ogilvie-Grant 
{Ihis, Jubilee Supplement, No. 2, December 1915, p. 215) wrote ; “ The 
wing measures 88 mm., and is rather smaller than that of most Australian 
examples, but two specimens collected by F. Strange in Queensland 
measure respectively 88 and 89 mm. On the other hand, a bird from 
south-east New Guinea measures 93 mm., and others from Fergusson 
Island are equally large. In one Queensland bird the wing measures 96 
mm. Mr. Mathews distinguishes four subspecies of H. macleayi in 
Australia, but even with the help of his series I fail to recognise more 
than one [c/. “ List of the Birds of Australia,” p. 148, (1913)]. The 
type specimen of his H. m. distinguendus from South Alhgator River, which 
he has kindly sent me for examination, certainly has the back and scapulars 
unusually blue, but other examples from North Australia (Port Darwin 
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