Laughing kookaburra there. He probably obtained a preserved specimen from one of the naturalists who accompanied Captain James Cook to the east coast of Australia. Edme-Louis Daubenton and François-Nicolas Martinet included a coloured plate of the laughing kookaburra based on Sonnerat's specimen in their "Planches enluminées d'histoire naturelle". The plate has the legend in French ""Martin-pecheur, de la Nouvelle Guinée"" (Kingfisher from New Guinea). In 1783, the French naturalist Johann Hermann provided a formal description of the species based the coloured plate by Daubenton and Martinet. He gave it the scientific name "Alcedo novæ Guineæ". The current genus "Dacelo" was introduced in
The Australian Bird Guide in its review: The Australian Bird Guide The Australian Bird Guide (The Guide) was published by CSIRO Publishing in 2017 and took almost 8 years to produce. The lead author is Peter Menkhorst along with Danny Rogers and Rohan Clarke. Original illustrations are by Jeff Davis, Peter Marsack and Kim Franklin. The guide covers a total of 936 species that comprise 747 breeding residents or regular migrants, 29 introduced species and 160 vagrants. These birds are grouped as marine and costal birds, freshwater birds and terrestrial birds and then taxonomically. Weighing in at almost 1.5 kilograms and with dimensions of