BACELO TYRO, G.R Gray
DACELO T Y RO , g. r . a™,.
M an tled Kingfisher.
Dacelo tyro, G. R. Gray, Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxvi. p. 171, Aves, pi. cxxxiii.—J. E. and G. R. Gray’s Cat. of
Mammalia and Birds of New Guinea in Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 19.
I h a v e in my collection two very fine specimens of this bird, both of which were procured by Mr. Wallace:
one of them is much smaller than the other, and is also much darker in all its fulvous tints both of the
spottings of the head and the under surface generally: this individual is marked a male, while the larger
and more delicately coloured specimen has the feminine indicative on the label. The colouring of the tail
in the male specimen is also dark bluish-green, while that of the female is pure green ; these differences in
the colouring of the tail were also pointed out by Mr. Gray. For a long period I have fancied that the
male ol our own Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida) was smaller than the female; and a question of some interest
has now to be solved,—whether or not the same law reigns through the entire family. The two specimens
referred to above are both figured in the accompanying plate, the hinder figure representing the male, and
the front one the opposite sex.
The spotted feathers of the head from the nape downwards are elongated and spread out, forming a kind
of mantle over the back; hence the trivial name I have given to the bird.
The Dacelo tyro must be regarded as one of the finest of Mr. Wallace’s discoveries. Its true habitat is
the Aru Islands, to which it is probably restricted.
The following is Mr. Gray’s description:—
Male.—“ Top and sides of the head and back of the neck black, spotted and banded with fulvous white;
nape and upper part of the back fulvous white, banded and margined with black; scapulars black; wing-
coverts black, broadly margined with shining blue; quills and tail black, margined externally with dull
blue; upper part of the back black, the lower part glossy silvery blue; under surface pale fulvous, lightest
on the throat; upper mandible black, the lower one pale horn-colour.”
Female.— “ Quills and tail greenish blue.”
Young.—“ Beneath each feather margined with black; bill black, tipped with pale horn-colour; otherwise
the same.”
The figures are-of the natural size.