M. Sundevall on the Birds of Calcutta. 405 



54. Alcedo rudis, L. et auct. 



Nigra et alba, cauda mediocri, rotundata ; capite subcristato ; 

 dorso, fasciaque pectoris nigris ; superciliis albis. Rostrum et pedes 

 nigri. Praecedente paullo minor (secundum adnotationem ex indi- 

 viduo vivo d. 23 Martii). 



Although this bird occurred during all the time that I re- 

 mained in Bengal, and in all the places which I explored, much 

 more frequently than the two former species, it happened that I 

 procured no specimen of it. I have not therefore thought fit to 

 give a lengthened description, especially as I have seen none in 

 collections which certainly came from Bengal. According to a 

 note made on the spot, upon one which was seen at a very short 

 distance, once when I was unarmed, the beak seemed to be con- 

 siderably thicker than in the specimens which I have since seen in 

 collections, and curved upwards as in the previous species. The 

 bird kept near the river and the tanks, partly in trees, partly 

 walking on the ground, and was often seen to hover in the air 

 in one place like the Kestril over its prey. The tail was com- 

 monly carried erect, both when the bird sat still and when it 

 walked, which was not observed in the two preceding kinds. Its 

 note was a shrill Tick ! *. 



55. Psittacus torquatus, Kuhl., Act. Bonn. x. (sec. Brisson). — 

 Ps. alexandri var. /3, L. Palaeornis cubicularis, Wagl. Monogr. Psitt. 

 p. 45. 



Viridis, ala immaculata, torque nuchali tenui roseo. Gula cum 

 stria laterali, torquem limitante, striolaque lorae nigris ; rostro san- 

 guineo (adultus). 



<£ (d. 10 Febr.). Occiput paullo ca?ruleo tinctum. Rectrices 

 apice cserulescentes, intus subtusque flavae. Rostrum totum rubrum. 

 Iris alba. Palpebral (nee orbita) nudse. Long. 16 poll. Ala 165 

 millim. Rectrices mediae 252, extimse quadruplo breviores. 



Our want of information from India is especially shown by the 

 fact that the existence of this Parrokeet w r as denied in the last 

 treatise on these birds which I am acquainted with, viz. Wagler's 

 excellent monograph in the ' Abhandlungen der Bayerischen 

 Akademie/ Munich, 1835. According to my experience this is 

 the only species of Parrokeet which is really common about Cal- 



* This Indian species, to which I have given the name Ceryle varia, 

 differs from C. rudis of S. Europe and Africa in the greater amount of white 

 on the upper parts, but it is absolutely identical in form and structure with 

 C. rudis. I have seen the latter species at Smyrna hovering in the mode 

 described by M. Sundevall, but I never saw it walking, nor was I aware 

 that any of the Alcedinidce (in which the feet are remarkably short and 

 feeble) ever made any progress upon the ground. — H. E. S. 



