Order ALCEDINIFORMES. 
No. 20. 
Family DACELONIDJE. 
SAUROPATIS SANCTA. 
(norfolkiensis.) 
NORFOLK ISLAND KINGFISHER. 
(Plate 18.) 
Sauropatis Cabanis und Heine, Mus. Heine., Vol. II., p. 158, (after Jan. 20th) 1860. Type 
(by subsequent designation, Sharpe, Monogr. Alced., p. xrv., Jan. 1st, 1871) : Halcyon 
sanctus Vigors and Horsfield. 
Halcyon sanctus Vigors and Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. (Lond.), Vol. XV., p. 206, Feb. 17th, 
1827 : New South Wales. 
Halcyon norfolkiensis Tristram, Ibis, Jan. 1885, p. 49 : Norfolk Island. 
Sauropatis sanda norfolkiensis Mathews, Syst. Av. Australas., p. 380, June 13th, 1927. 
Distribution. Norfolk Island. 
Adult male. Scapulars and upper back verditer-green; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, 
lesser, median and greater coverts ultramarine-blue ; quills greyish-black margined on the 
outer web with ultramarine-blue ; tail-feathers similarly coloured with shining black 
shafts ; fore-head and crown of head blackish-brown, faintly tinged with bluish-green ; 
occiput and nape greenish-blue ; a black band surrounding the back of the head joining 
on to the ear-coverts ; lores buff ; eyebrow white, mixed with black ; feathers round 
the eye black ; sides of face, ear-coverts, cheeks, chin and throat white ; sides of the neck 
and the remainder of the under-surface rich creamy-buff, more pronoimced on the sides 
of the body. Bill black, with lower base grey, eyes brown, feet brownish-yellow. Total 
length 195 mm. : culmen 38, wing 100, tail 64, tarsus 13. Figured. Collected on 
Mt. Pitt, Norfolk Island, on the 7th of October, 1912. 
Adult female. Feathers of the top of the head blackish-brown, very indistinctly bordered with 
light brown ; back and sides of the head w r ashed with dull olive-green with a few concealed 
white feathers on the low T er neck; a broad band of black from below" the eye, round the 
hind-neck, succeeded by a broad collar of whitish-buff ; back and scapulars blackish- 
brown washed with dull olive-green ; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts verditer- 
green, brightest on the upper tail-coverts ; lesser and median wing-coverts dull olive- 
green ; primary-quills black, widely margined on the outer web with verditer-blue ; 
secondaries black on tbe inner webs and verditer-blue on the outer w r ebs ; tail-feathers 
verditer-blue, with the shafts shining black ; lores whitish-buff, this colour continued 
in a faint line over the eyes ; sides of the face, ear-coverts and cheeks black; chin and 
throat wiiite, tinged with cream-colour; sides of the neck, fore-neck, chest and breast 
creamy-buff with faint blackish margins ; abdomen creamy-wiiite ; sides of the body, 
flanks, thighs and under tail-coverts buff; under wing-coverts and axillaries tawny; 
quills below T dark grey with the inner web lighter grey. Bill black, basal half of the lower 
mandible bullish, feet dark brown, tinged with yellow, eyes dark brown. Total length 
200 mm. : culmen 39, wing 103, tail 67, tarsus 13. Collected on Mt. Pitt, Norfolk 
Island, on the 26th of August, 1912. 
Adult male. Similar to the adult female. ■» 
27 
