J.GoaLò k WHartdel.et lillv.
MET/TOTOA MACRORHES^ZiSS.
Walter, lmp.
MELIDORA MACRORHINA.
Hook-billed Kingfisher.
Dacelo macrórhims, Lesa. Voy. Coquille, Zoologie, Atlas, pi. 31 bis, fig. 2 (1826).—Id. Féruss. Bull. Sci. Nat.
sii. p. 131 (1827).—Id. Voy. Coquille, Zool. i, p. 692 (1828).—Id. Man. d’Ora. li. p. 94 (1828).—
Gray, Cat. B. New Guinea, p. 19 (1859).—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 154.
Melidora euphrosùe, Less. Traité d’Orn. p. 259 (1831).—Id. Compì. OEuvres de Buffon, Oiseaux, p. 653 (1838)—
Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 150 (1850).—Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 160 (1865).
Dacelo macrorhynchus, Less. Traité d’Orn. p. 249 (1831).
Melidora macmrhjnclia, Gray, List Gen. Birds, i. p. 10 (1840).—Id. List Gen. Birds, p. 14 (1841)— Id. Handl.
B. i. p. 89, no. 1067 (1869).—Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. Wales, iii. p. 252 (1878), iv. p. 97
(1879).
Dacelo macrorhynchus, Gray, Genera of Birds, i. p. 78 (1846)*
Melidora macrorhina, Reichenb. Handb. spec. Orn. Alced. p. 41, sp. 99, Taf. 428. figs. 3166-7 (1851).—Sclater,
Journ. Linn. Soc. ii. p. 156 (1858).—Sharpe, Mon. Alcedinidæ, p. 120 (1871).—Beccari, Ann. Mus. Civ.
Genova, vii. p. 708 (1875).—Salvad. tom. cit. p. 766, viii. p. 398 (1876).—Cab. & Reicbenow, Journ. f.
Om. 1876, p. 323.—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, xi. pp. 128, 303 ; xiii. p. 319 (1878).—Id. Orn.
Papuasia, &c. i. p. 500 (1881).
Melidora euphrosina, Reichenb. loc. cit. ; Rosenb. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. xxv. p. 230 (1863)—Id. Journ. f.
Om. 1861, p. 117.
Melidora euphrasite, Bp. Consp. Vol. Anisod. p. 9 (1854).
Dacelo macrorhynchus, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 189.—Id. Cat. B. New Guinea, p. 54 (1859).—Id. Proc.
Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 433.
Dacelo macrorhina, Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Alcedinida, p. 22 (1863).—Id. Vog. Ned. Ind. Alced. pp. 17, 51, pl.
4. fig. 1 (1864).—Id. Mus. Pays-Bas, Alced. (Revue), p. 18 (1874).—Giebel, Thes. Orn. ii. p. 7 (1875).
Melidora goldiei, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. Wales, i. p. 369 (1876).
Melidora collaris, Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 313 (1877).
I t is to Count Salvador! th at we owe our knowledge o f the plumages through which this extraordinary
form o f Kingfisher passes. Mr. Bowdler Sharpe, in his Monograph of the family, seems to have been
acquainted with the female bird only ; and a t the time th at h e wrote, very few specimens existed in European
museums. More recently, however, Mr. Bruijn and the well-known Italian traveller Signor D Albertis have
forwarded to the Genoa museum a large series o f specimens, while it has also been obtained by other
naturalists in South-eastern New Guinea. The late D r. James met with it near Hall B ay ; and Mr. Ramsay
has recorded it from the interior of the country near P o rt Moresby. W e have also seen specimens
collected near East Cape by Mr. Hunstein, and by Mr. Goldie on the Astrolabe range.
The south-eastern specimens were described independently by Mr. Ramsay and Mr. Sharpe as a distinct
species ; but Count Salvadori compared the type o f Melidora collaris with others from North-western New
Guinea, and feels certain th at it is nothing but the ordinary adult male of M. macrorhina.
T he present species was discovered by Lesson during the voyage o f the ‘ Coquille,’ near Dorey, where also
Mr. Wallace and Von Rosenberg met with it. I t has likewise been found by the latter collector, and by
Signor D ’Albertis at Andai; while Dr. Beccari met with it a t Warbusi, and D ’Albertis a t Ramoi. I t inhabits
likewise the islands of Salawati, Batanta, Waigiou, and Mysol. Professor Schlegel states that the specimens
in the Leyden Museum from Waigiou differed in having the spots on the back and wings clearer, and of a
bright greenish yellow; but Count Salvadori could not find any points o f difference in individuals collected in
th at island by Beccari and Bruijn. We are still without any exact information as to the habits o f this
peculiar Kingfisher, whose hooked bill would seem to be adapted for some special purpose in the capture of
I here translate the description o f the sexes given in Count Salvadori’s work, from which also the
synonymy of the species has been derived.
Adult male. Head black, feathers margined with bine, a spot on each side of the forehead, extending above
the eyes, rufous ; cheeks and ear-coverts black, the former separated from the latter by a whitish band
starting from the angle o f the m o u th ; round the neck a black collar, succeeded by a white one 5 remainder
o f the upper surface dusky brown, with broad ochraceous yellow margins to the feathers, those of the rump
and upper tail-coverts more yellow; quills dusky, the secondaries externally margined with rufous, internally
with broad fulvous e d g e s ; beneath dull white, with very narrow dusky edges to the feathers o f the throat