HALCYON QUAD RI CO LOR.
Four-coloured Kingfisher.
Cyan alcyon quadricolor, Oustalet, Le Naturaliste, 1880, p. 323.
T his beautifnl species was discovered by Mr. Bruijn’s hunters on the west coast o f New Guinea, and
appears to be a very distinct bird. Count Salvadori has, indeed, suggested to me th at it may be the young
o f Halcyon nigrocyanea ; but this I do not think likely to be the case. Mr. Sharpe examined the type
specimen in the P aris Museum, and assures me that the bird is adult, and quite distinct from the last-named
species. Both Professor Schlegel, in his Revue of the Kingfishers in the Leyden Museum, and Count
Salvadori, in his ‘ Ornitologia della Papuasia,’ record specimens o f H. nigrocyanea, which they consider to
be immature, as being rufous or rufous-brown underneath ; but I can scarcely think that there can be much
similarity between these young birds and the specimen figured in my Plate.
Dr. Oustalet describes the present bird as follows :—
“ Some months ago I had occasion to draw attention to the presence o f a new species o f Talegallus
( Talegallus o r rath er Æpypodius bruijnii) among a collection of birds killed by Mr. B ruijns hunters on
the west coast o f New Guinea and in the neighbouring islands. In this same collection, which was
acquired by the Paris Museum, was a beautiful Kingfisher of moderate size belonging to the small group
which is known by the name o f Cyanalcyon, and much recalling by its proportions, and by the coloration
of the upper p art of the body, o f its beak, its feet, throat, and breast, the species coming from the northwest
coast o f New Guinea, which was described by Mr. Wallace in 1862 under the name o f Halcyon
nigrocyanea (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 165, pi. xix.). The individual before me has, like the bird figured
by Mr. Wallace, the bill black, with a little white in the middle o f the lower mandible near its base ; the
feet black ; the upper p a rt o f the head dark blue, passing into ultramarine on the nape and towards the
eyebrows, and contrasting strongly with the black colour which occupies the middle of the hack and the
two large black spots which cover the cheeks, the feathers below the eye, and the sides of the throat. The
wings are o f a dark blue, with the scapular feathers o f a bright blue ; the under wing-coverts black, crossed
by a white baud ; the tail is blue above, black below ; the upper tail-coverts o f a clear and intense cobalt-
blue ; the throat pure white, bordered below by a broad blue band. But the abdominal region presents
an entirely different coloration : in fact, in the female which was figured in the ‘ Proceedings, the belly is
o f a pure white, with black flanks ; here, on the contrary, the belly is of a very pronounced cinnamon-
rufous, with some black and blue feathers on the sides, and this rufous colour is separated from the blue
band by a somewhat narrow but well-defined line o f white. We may not attribute this difference in colour
to a difference in sex, because, according to Mr. Bruijn’s indications, in which one can place confidence, the
individual acquired by the Museum is a female like Mr. Wallace’s type. We know, moreover, as a natural
fact th at the male of Halcyon nigrocyanea has the belly azure-blue. In short, although I find in Schlegel s
‘ Catalogue des Martins Pêcheurs du Musée des Pays-Bas’ (Revision, 1874, p. 3 1 ) this note ‘ A young
male killed on the 7th May 1870, a t Andai, by Von Rosenberg, is remarkable for having the blue of
the under surface replaced by rufous brown,’ I certainly cannot consider the individual before me as
being young. I t has, in fact, the dress o f a perfectly adult bird, with the colours pure and brilliant, and
does not show any sign o f spots, or of the grey or rufous bars which are the sign o f immaturity. I
propose, therefore, to make it the type o f a new species, to be called Cyanalcyon quadricolor, to draw
attention to the four colours (blue, white, rufous, and black) which are spread over its plumage.
During a recent visit to Paris, Mr. J . G. Keulemans painted me a picture o f the type specimen in the
Paris Museum, which has been reproduced by Mr. Hart in the accompanying Plate. The principal figure
is Iife-Size' [R. B. S.]