i8i 



:56irJ) IRotee from tbe (Bambia. 



By K. HOPKINSON, D.S.O., M.A., M.B. 

 r Continued Jrom page 126 J. 



y2 INGFISHERS. Of these we have many species, 

 1^ which may be arranged in two groups, (i) the 

 r-L\ Pied, and (2) the Bine Kingfishers. Of the 

 first we have two representatives, Ceryle riidis 

 and C. 7?iaxima, black and white birds, whicli only 

 differ from each other in size. They are essentially 

 " Fishers," which all up the river from its very mouth 

 may be seen, sometimes sitting on a post sticking 

 out of the water or on an overhanging branch, some- 

 times hovering in the air, motionless except for 

 their quickly quivering wings, and thence diving 

 repeatedly with a splash right into the water, whence 

 they return almost instantly with an unfortunate fish 

 wriggling in their beaks, which has been espied from 

 above and caught by a headlong plunge almost too 

 rapid to follow with the eye. In the second group I 

 am very hazy as to the identity of the different 

 species, several of which are of exquisite beauty. 

 One, a very common bird, which is called here the 

 " Mangrove Kingfisher," is about twice the size of 

 the European Kingfisher, and has blue upper, greyish 

 brown lower, parts and a long red beak ; another is 

 about the same size, but has a grey head and whitish 

 underparts, the remainder of the plumage being blue 

 with a patch of chestnut at the vent, and this I take 

 to be Haley 071 semiccertdeus. Both of these are 

 commonly seen sitting motionless, on the watch for 

 passing fish, just above the water among the thick 

 mangrove growth, which borders the banks for a long 

 way up the river. 



A third species, slightly larger than our bird, I 

 have only seen away from the river, apparently on the 

 look out for insects and other creeping things of the 



