442 Mr. H. E. Strickland on Halcyon smyrnensis. 



greenish blue, changing in certain Hghts to green. Younger 

 specimens from India retain the rufous lesser covers, but have 

 the middle covers blue-green, like the rest of the vv^ing and 

 upper parts. In Albinos " Smyrna Kingfisher,^^ however, the 

 whole wing is represented green, changing only to a bluish 

 tinge on the middle covers, but without the rufous on the 

 lesser covers. This discrepancy appeared to indicate a spe- 

 cific distinction, but was neutralized by the circumstance that 

 Albin, or his colourist, has also given green lesser covers to 

 the Bengal Kingfisher on plate 28, a mistake indeed which 

 might easily arise, from the rufous ridge of the wing being 

 concealed beneath the azure-green feathers of the upper back. 

 It was clear then that these doubts could only be solved by 

 searching in Asia Minor for the original species described by 

 Albin. During my residence at Smyrna in the winter of 

 1835-6, I failed in meeting with any traces of this bird, al- 

 though two other species of Alcedinidae, viz. Alcedo Ispida, 

 Linn., and Ceryle rudis (Hasselquist) were not infrequent. 

 The Halcyon smyrnensis, however, belonging as it does to an 

 insectivorous genus which is rarely met with far beyond the 

 tropics, could hardly be expected to occur so far north as 

 Smyrna in the depth of winter. Failing in this attempt, I 

 took occasion at a later period, when supplying that ardent 

 and philosophic zoologist Mr. Edward Forbes with a list of 

 ornithological desiderata to be sought for in the Levant, to 

 call his particular attention to the long-lost " Smyrna King- 

 fisher," and I am happy to say that his researches have at 

 last been crowned with success. In a letter from him, dated 

 Macri, on the coast of Lycia, at the end of February last, he 

 says, "One of the sailors has just shot a large kingfisher 

 which I take to be the one wanted. Three or four have been 

 seen, but not got at. The common Kingfisher is also very 

 abundant, or something like it. The large bird was brought 

 alive ; its plumage is very beautiful. I have drawn it, and 

 Graves is at this moment busy skinning it. We shall send 

 the skin to you by an early opportunity." Through the 

 kindness of Capt. Graves this specimen has since been for- 

 warded to me, and on comparing it with a series of specimens 

 from India, it turns out to be in every respect specifically 

 identical with them. It is in the full adult plumage, possess- 

 ing the rufous lesser and black medial covers which distin- 

 guish the perfect bird in India. We may therefore hence- 

 forth, without hesitation, retain the original specific name of 

 smyrnensis for the specimens from India no less than for those 

 of Asia Minor, and from the proximity of the latter country 

 to Crete and the Morea, we may anticipate the future admis- 



