Zoological Illustrations Volume I Part 11

CONOELIX punctatus.

_Punctured Conoelix--lower figures._

_C. testa fulvo-albescente, striis transversis capillaribus, intra minute punctatis; spira brevi; columella 5-plicata._

Sh.e.l.l cream-colour, with capillary transverse striae, which are minutely punctured. Spire short. Pillar five-plaited.

Inhabits Otaheite: from the Banksian Collection. The figures are on the same scale as _C. marmoratus_.

These are the only three species which I have myself seen. Another is figured in _Chemnitz_ x. _tab._.150. _fig._ 1415 and 6. Mr. Humfreys informs me he has seen at different times five or six others, all of a small size.

Pl. 25

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PROCNIAS melanocephalus.

_Black-headed Berry-eater._

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 21.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_P. oliva-viridis, subtus flavescens, striis fuscis transversis, capite omnino nigro._

Olive-green, beneath yellowish, with dusky transverse striae. Head entirely black.

Another new and very rare bird of this singular genus, inhabiting, like all the other species, the tropical regions of America. I met with it in Brazil but twice in the forests of Pitanga, not far distant from Bahia; and my hunters were at a loss for its name, never having seen it before: the eyes in the fresh bird are of a beautiful crimson.

Its total length is nine inches and a quarter; the bill is nine lines from the gape to the tip, and four from the base of the nostrils, at which part the bill is not so proportionably broad as in the Swallow Berryeater (pl.

21.): the colour blueish-black, paler at the base: the whole head, sides, chin, and part of the throat are black, the feathers of the crown a little lengthened and pointed, giving a slight appearance of a crest: the wings and tail are dusky-black on the inner shafts and green on the outer; the whole of the upper plumage olive-green, and of the under pale greenish-yellow crossed with short dusky transverse lines from the breast downwards; under wing and tail-covers the same. Tail four inches from the base, slightly divaricated, and of twelve feathers. Wings four inches and a half, the first quill very short, the third, fourth and fifth of equal length. Legs black.

This was a male bird: the female I have not seen.

Pl. 26

[Ill.u.s.tration]

ALCEDO azurea.

_Azure Kingsfisher._

GENERIC CHARACTER.

_Rostrum longissimum, r.e.c.t.u.m, attenuatum, altius quam latius, in totum compressum, mandibulis carinatis; marginibus lateralibus leviter inflexis. Nares basales, membrana tectae, apertura nuda, lineari, obliqua; cauda plerumque brevissima. Pedes gressorii, digito antico interiore minimo aut nullo._

Typus Genericus _Alcedo ispida_. Linn.

Bill very long, straight and attenuated, higher than broad, compressed the whole length, both mandibles carinated, the margins slightly bent inwards. Nostrils basal, covered by a membrane; the aperture linear, oblique, and naked. Tail mostly very short. Feet gressorial, inner fore-toe small or wanting.

Generic Type _Common Kingsfisher_. Lath. Bewick, &c.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_A. Corpore supra, capitis lateribus colloque nitido cyaneis; subtus rufis; mento gulaque albescentibus, alis nigricantibus; digito antico interiore nullo._

Body above, sides of the head and neck s.h.i.+ning mazarine blue; beneath rufous; chin and throat whitish; wings blackish; inner fore-toe wanting.

Alcedo azurea. Azure Kingsfisher. _Lath. Synop. Suppl._ ii. _p._ 372.

_Lewin's Birds of New Holland_, _fasc._ i. _pl._ 1.

Alcedo Tribrachys. Tridigitated Kingsfisher. _Shaw in Gen. Zool._ viii.

1. 105.

The Kingsfishers have such a general similarity of form, that the most casual observer is able to distinguish them: a very long straight bill, short wings, and (in general) a shorter tail with very small legs, are the prominent distinctions of such as are usually seen; and the richness of plumage that generally pervades them cannot be better exemplified than in our own beautiful species, the common Kingsfisher, not unfrequent in many parts of England.

These birds, hitherto placed in systems under one genus, nevertheless contain two distinct groups differing materially in the construction of that primary organ of supporting life, the bill; and in their physical distribution, or the countries they respectively inhabit, two most important considerations in the natural arrangement of animals under the present elevated views of the philosophic zoologist, with whom the study of Nature consists no longer in the study of words, the retention of names, or even the accurate description of species.

These considerations have induced me to form these birds into two genera, the definitions of which are now given: those retained under the old genus of _Alcedo_ appear to be scattered (though sparingly) in every part of the old and the new world. Their bills seem formed for swallowing their food more in an entire state, similar to the Herons. In each of these genera one species exists with only three toes, a remarkable circ.u.mstance, which in an artificial system would endanger their being united in a separate genus; but which, from the remarkable smallness of the inner toe in all the other species, cannot I apprehend point out any peculiarity either in their habit or economy: and this opinion I find is likewise entertained by Professor Temminck.

Total length seven inches and a quarter. Bill from the gape two inches one line, the upper mandible rather longest, and both with a slight appearance of a notch; the colour black. All the upper plumage, as well as the sides of the head, ears, and stripe beyond, fine ultramarine blue, more vivid on the rump and tail-covers, and duller on the tail, wing-covers, and lesser quill-margins; front blackish; from the nostrils to the eye a whitish line, and from the ears on each side the neck a whitish stripe, which almost forms a collar round the nape. Quill-feathers sooty black. All the under parts orange ferrugineous; throat and belly nearly white. Tail very short, nearly hid by the upper covers. Feet red, claws black. The inner fore-toe wanting, but a slight rudiment of it exists in my specimen.

Since writing the above, I find this bird is figured and described in a beautiful work commenced by Lewin on the birds of New Holland, which Mr.

Brown, the learned possessor of the Banksian library, pointed out to me. I believe but a few copies are known. Lewin observes, "it inhabits heads of rivers, visiting dead trees, from the branches of which it darts on its prey in the water beneath, and is sometimes completely immersed by the velocity of its descent."

Dr. Latham has very well described it, but quite overlooked the construction of the feet.