V 
' WHITE-TAILED KINGFISHER. 
tarsus 14, Figured. Collected at Cape York, North Queensland, on the 27th of 
January, 1913. 
Adult female. General colour above ultramarine-blue including the head, hind-neck, 
scapulars, wings, and outer tail-feathers ; mantle black ; inner-webs of primary- 
and secondary-quills dark brown edged with buff ; short inner scapulars pale buff ; 
back, rump, and central tail-coverts silkj^-white, the lateral ones blue, the long middle 
tail-feathers also white with blue on the outer-webs, the outer feathers brown on 
the inner-webs; lores, sides of face, and ear-coverts black; throat and under- 
surface of body including the axillaries pale rufous-chestnut with dark bases to the 
feathers ; under-surface of quills brown margined with buff on the inner-webs at 
the base ; lower aspect of tail brown with white on the inner-webs of the two 
central feathers. Eyes black; feet and bill scarlet. Tail 150mm. Figured. 
Collected at Cape York, North Queensland, on the 25th of February, 1913. 
Immature. Under-surface buff with dark edges to the feathers ; throat white ; back and 
scapulars dark brown, with a spot of light buff ; head blackis.ii with brown 
edges to the feathers of the fore-head, which become greenish-blue and ultramarine 
on the hinder crown ; wing-coverts blue with brown edges to the feathers. 
Nest. A hole in a white ants’ nest in a tree or on the ground. 
Eggs. Clutch, three to four. White, 26 to 28 mm. by 23-24. 
Breeding-season. November to January. 
Macgillivray collected this beautiful bird at Cape York, and it was 
described by Gould in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 
for 1850. Simultaneously Gould brought before the British Association 
Meeting in the same year an account of Macgillivray’s discoveries, quoting 
his letters. This account w^as printed by Jardine in his “Contribu- 
tions to Ornithology ” and the descriptions of the new'^ species of birds were 
added. Owing to the delay in publishing the Proceedings of the Zoological 
Society Jardine’s article appeared first and must be quoted as the earliest 
reference. In his letter Macgillivray wrote : “ You shall have copies of 
my notes regarding their habits, made expressly for the supplement 
to your work.” These notes read : “ This pretty Tanysiptera is rather 
plentiful in the neighbourhood of Cape York, where it frequents the 
dense brushes, and is especially fond of resorting to the small sunny 
openings in the woods, attracted probably by the greater abundance of 
insect food found in such places than elsevdiere. I never saw it on the 
ground, and usually was first made aware of its presence by the glancing 
of its bright colours as it darted past with a rapid, arrow-like flight, 
and disappeared in an instant among the dense foliage. Its cry, which 
may be represented by ‘ whee-whee-whee ’ , and ‘ wheet-wheet-wheetf is 
usually uttered while the bird is perched on a bare transverse branch 
or woody rope-like climber, which it uses as a look-out station, and whence 
it makes short dashes at any passing insect or small lizard, generally, 
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