The members of this genus, as now restricted, are found in all the islands of the Indian Archipelago, Australia, and New Zealand. The Australian species, which are four in number, have many habits in common with the Dacelos, and like them dwell among other places on the open plains, far away from water, and consequently must live for considerable periods without a supply of that element.
| 60. Halcyon sanctus, Vig. & Horsf. | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 21. |
| 61. Halcyon pyrrhopygia, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 22. |
Captain Sturt found this species at the Depôt, and I have received specimens from the Swan River Settlement; consequently it has a very wide range, but is more an inhabitant of the interior than of the districts near the coast.
| 62. Halcyon sordidus, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 23. |
| 63. Halcyon MacLeayii, Jard. & Selb. | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 24. |
Independently of the Cobourg Peninsula, I have received specimens of this bird from Moreton Bay and other parts of the east coast.
Genus Alcyone, Swains.
The Australian members of this genus are so intimately allied that I have only deemed it necessary to figure two species, viz. Alcyone azurea and A. pusilla; the two species not figured are both nearly allied to A. azurea, and may be considered its northern and southern prototypes, since the one to which I have given the name of pulchra inhabits the north coast, and the other, which I have called Diemenensis, inhabits Van Diemen’s Land. The A. azurea inhabits the intermediate or rather the south-eastern portions of the country, but no species of the genus has yet been found in Western Australia. They all frequent the margins of rivers, and live on small fish and insects, and have many habits in common with the members of the genus Alcedo, of which the Kingfisher of Europe, A. Ispida, is the type. Although some species are found in New Guinea and the Indian Islands, Australia is the country in which birds of this form are most abundant.
| 64. Alcyone azurea | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 25. |
| 65. Alcyone Diemenensis, Gould. |
- Alcyone Diemenensis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part XIV. p. 19.
All the upper surface deep blue, becoming more vivid on the rump and upper tail-coverts; wings black washed with blue; throat buff; under surface of the body and wings ferruginous orange; on each side of the chest a patch of bluish black; lores and a small patch behind the ears buff; crown of the head indistinctly barred with black; irides and bill black; feet orange. Total length 6½ inches; bill, 2; wing, 3⅛; tail, 1¾; tarsi, ½.