JGouUhWHmM* iàv SAUROMAKPTIS GAUDICHAUDI.
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SAUROMARPTIS GAUD I CHAUD I.
Gaudichaud’s Kingfisher.
Dacelo gaudichaudi, Quoy & Gaim. Voy. de l’Uranie, p. 112, pi. xv.—Gray, Cat. Fissirostres Brit. Mus. p. 52.—
Id. Gen. B. i. p. 78.—Bonap. Consp. Av. i. p. 154.—Cass. Cat. Halcyonidæ Philad. Mus. p. 14.—Sclater,
Proc. Linn. Soc. ii. p. 155.—Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Alced. p. 20.—Id. Yog. Nederl. Indie, Alced.
pp. 13,49, pi. iv.—Gray, Hand-list of Birds, i. p. 89, no. 1063.—Sharpe, Monogr. Alced p. 295, pi. cxvi.
Id. Joum. Linn. Soc.xiii. pp. 313,493.—Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, i. p. 389.—D’Albert.
Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, x. p. 19.—Sharpe, Linn. Soc. Journal, xiv. p. 686.
Choucalcyon gaudichaudi, Lesson, Traité d’Orn. p. 248.—Bonap. Consp. Volucr. Anis. p. 9.
Monachalcyon gaudichaudi, Reichenbach, Handb. Alced. p. 37, Taf. ccccxxv. fig. 3156.
Sauromarptis gaudichaudi, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Tb. ii. p. 164.—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 765.
—Id. & D’Albert. tom. cit. p. 816.—Salvad. op. cit.-viii. p. 398.—Id. op. cit. ix. p. 21.—Id. op. cit. x.
pp. 128, 306.—D’Albert. & Salvad. op, cit. xiv. p. 53.
No g reater proof could be given, o f the great progress which ornithology has made during the last ten years,
than a comparison o f the localities which this species was known to inhabit in the year 1869 with the list of
habitats which are enumerated by Count Salvadori in his ‘P rodrom us’ o f the Kingfishers of New Guinea and
the Papuan Islands. Originally discovered in New Guinea and Guebeh by Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard
during the voyage o f the ‘ Uranie,’ the localities o f Waigiou, Mysol, and the Aru Islands were added by
Mr. Wallace. Mr. Sharpe also includes Ceram, on the authority o f specimens in the Leiden Museum ; but
Count Salvadori omits this island from his list, and it seems doubtful if the species has ever really occurred
there. Count Salvadori has examined one hundred and twenty specimens collected in the Papuan Islands
by the recent Italian explorers Beccari and D ’Albertis, as well as the Dutch voyagers Bruijn, Bernstein,
and von R osenberg; and the following places are given by him as habitats for this fine species:-—N.W. New
Guinea, Dorey, Mansinam, Andai, Warbusi, Wairoro, Dorei-Hum, Sorong, Kukuladi, Lobo, and the following
islands—Salawati, Batanla, Waigiou, Guebeh, Jobi, Miosnom, Mysol, and the Aru Islands; while
it has also been found in South-eastern New Guinea. In this p a rt of the great Papuan island D ’Albertis
has found the species on the Fly River and in Hall Bay, the Rev. Mr. Lawes at Hood Bay (60 miles east of
Port Moresby), Dr. James a t Nicura, and Mr. Stone on the Laloke river.
Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard give the following note on this Kingfisher iu their original account o f the
b i r d T h i s species, to which we have given the name o f our friend and colleague the botanist attached to
the expedition, inhabits the woods of the Papuan Islands. The aborigines call it Mangrogone and Manki-
netrous; the inhabitants o f Guebe call i t Salba,—these being the names employed by the islanders for all
Kingfishers. I t is not shy, and is easily approached. The individuals that we killed had their beaks still
covered with the earth in which they had been digging to procure their food.” Mr. Wallace states that he
found the species not uncommon in swampy jungle, where its curious loud barking was often heard and was
sometimes mistaken for that o f a dog. I t feeds on Crustacea, butterflies, Mollusca, and Myriopoda.
The following descriptions are given by Mr. Sharpe in his ‘ M o n o g ra p h—
“Adult male.— Crown o f the head, cheeks, ear-coverts, upper p a rt o f the back, and scapularies deep black;
in very old birds a few o f the feathers edged with bright b lu e ; a patch of feathers along the base of the
upper mandible, a stripe behind the eye, and a collar round the neck o c h re ; a spot on the occiput white;
wing-coverts black washed with bright co b alt; quills blackish, the inner web light ochre from the base,
the outer web edged with deep indigo, more especially on the secondaries; lower back and upper tail-
coverts bright silvery b lu e ; tail deep indigo above, black underneath ; throat pure wh ite; sides o f neck and
under wing-coverts white tinged with light o c h re ; rest of under surface o f body deep c h e stn u t; bill light
yellow, the upper mandible tinged with black ; feet black. Total length l l -8 inches, culmen 1*8, wing 5*3,
tail 4 -0, tarsus 0 ’85.
“Female.— Similar to the male, but having the colours not quite so bright, and the tail reddish.”