HALCYON STICTOLJEMA.
Spotted-throated King*fisher.
Cyanalcyon stictolama, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, ix. p. 20 (1876) Id. op. cit. x. p. 304 (1877).—
D’Albert. & Salvad. op. cit. xiv. p. 51 (1879).
Halcyon nigrocyanea, D’Albert, (nec Wallace), Ibis, 1876, p. 360.
Cyanalcyon nigrocyanea, D’Albert, (nec Wallace), Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, x. pp. 10, 19 (1877).
Very similar to the Halcyon nigrocyanea o f North-western New Guinea, in my opinion the present species is
nevertheless quite distinct. Nobody examining the two species could, I believe, hesitate to separate them,
notwithstanding the fact that Signor D ’Albertis, who discovered this new Kingfisher in South-eastern
New Guinea, considered it to be precisely the same as Halcyon nigrocyanea, a bird he had killed himself in
North-western New Guinea.
The present species is like Halcyon nigrocyanea, but differs at a glance by the want o f the white band
across the breast, and by having the throat almost entirely blue, mottled with white bases to the feathers.
The female bird is nearly the same as the female of the allied species ; but H. stictolcema has much less white
on the throat and abdomen, while the pectoral band is much broader. The habitat o f the species is, as far
as is known a t present, only the vicinity o f the river Fly, where Signor D’Albertis obtained one specimen
during his first expedition in 1875. On his second excursion, in 1877, he managed to procure six examples,
which are fully described by himself and Count Salvadori in the fourteenth volume o f the ‘ Annali ’ o f the
Civic Museum o f Genoa. Three o f these were most kindly lent to me by Signor D’Albertis for the purposes
of the present work ; and I have to acknowledge my obligations to this gentleman for his assistance on this
and other occasions.
Mr. Sharpe, who has seen the specimens, has supplied me with the following descriptions:—
“Adult male. General colour above black, the head deep ultramarine, the sides of the crown more brilliant
ultramarine inclining to cobalt, forming an eyebrow which borders the blue crown and encircles the n a p e ;
wing-coverts ultramarine, the lesser ones slightly more b rilliant; quills blackish, externally washed with dull
blue ; scapulars black, washed with blue at the en d s ; lower back cobalt, deepening into ultramarine on the
longer feathers o f the rump ; upper tail-coverts deep ultramarine; tail-feathers dark b lu e ; lores, feathers
round the eye, cheeks, ear-coverts, sides o f neck, sides o f breast, flanks, thighs, vent, and under tail-coverts
black, the latter tipped with ultramarine; chin black ; throat ultramarine mottled with white bases to the
fea th e rs; breast and abdomen rich ultramarine; under wing-coverts and axillaries black; edge o f wing
greenish blue ; quills dusky blackish below, ashy along the inner web. Total length 9 inches, culmen 2 ‘25,
wing 3-25, tail 3, tarsus 5.
“ Adult female. On the upper surface entirely like the male, but differs below in having the throat and
abdomen white, separated by a broad pectoral band which is ultramarine in the middle, black at the sid e s ;
sides o f body and flanks black ; under wing-coverts black, with a band o f white running down the middle,
many o f the median and greater under wing-coverts being tipped with w h ite ; under tail-coverts as in
the male.
“ Young. Resembles the old female, but is much more dusky black, the crown being also black, with an
ultramarine eyebrow; wing-coverts black, tipped with blue; lower back bright ultramarine, but not so
brilliant as in the adults ; sides o f face and sides o f body, vent, and lower abdomen dusky black ; throat dull
white, the feathers obscured with dusky blackish tip s ; centre of abdomen pale ochraceous brown, separated
from the throat by a broad blackish band, the central feathers washed with blue ; under tail-coverts blackish,
tipped with blue.”
Count Salvadori describes some o f the males as having a residue o f rusty feathers on the abdomen,
the remains o f the young plumage. The adults, according to Signor D ’Albertis, have the bill black the
feet clear plumbeous, and the iris chestnut-brown; and in the younger birds the iris is black, and the
feet are very dusky plumbeous. The food of the species consists o f Crustacea.
The figures in the Plate represent an adult male, adult female, and a young female, drawn to about
the natural size from three o f the typical specimens, len t to me by Signor D’Albertis.