Head, back, scapularies and wing-coverts brownish oil-green; wings greenish blue, gradually changing into green on the tips of the tertiaries; collar round the back of the neck and all the under surface buffy white; tail greenish blue; upper mandible and tip of the lower one black; base of the latter flesh-white.
The figures are of the natural size.
HALCYON MACLEAYII: Jard. & Selb.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp.
HALCYON MACLEAYII, Jard. & Selb.
MacLeay’s Halcyon.
Halcyon MacLeayii, Jard. and Selb. Ill. Orn., vol. iii. pl. 101.
Halcyon incinctus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 142, female.
Bush Kingfisher, Residents at Port Essington.
There certainly has not yet been discovered a more beautiful Halcyon in any part of the world than the one figured in the accompanying Plate, which has been dedicated to Mr. Alexander MacLeay by the authors of the “Illustrations of Ornithology” as a tribute of respect, in the propriety of which I entirely concur.
The extreme brilliancy of the plumage of this bird would seem to indicate that it is an inhabitant of a hotter climate than that of New South Wales, and the correctness of this inference is borne out by the fact that the Halcyon MacLeayii has only yet been found on the extreme northern portion of the continent; it is tolerably abundant at Port Essington, and it is also spread over every part of the Cobourg Peninsula suited to its peculiar habits; like the other members of the genus to which it belongs, it is rarely if ever seen near water, and evinces so decided a preference for the open forests of the interior of the country that it has obtained the name of “Bush Kingfisher” from the residents at Port Essington; it is generally dispersed about in pairs, and feeds on small reptiles, insects and their larvæ; its general note is a loud pee-pee uttered with considerable rapidity. It incubates in November and December, sometimes forming its nest in the hollow trunks of trees, and at others excavating a hole for itself in the nest of the tree-ants, which presents so prominent and singular a feature in the scenery of the country: the nest of the H. Macleayii is easily discovered, for on the approach of an intruder the birds immediately commence flying about in a very wild manner, uttering at the same time a loud piercing cry of alarm; the eggs are three or four in number, of a pearly white and nearly round in form, being eleven lines long by ten broad.