THE COMMON KINGFISHER. 67 



longer than the bill, in Alcedo the bill is much longer than 

 the tail. So it is in the African genus Corythornis and the 

 Australian genus Alcyone^ both of which are fish-eaters, but 

 Alcyone has only three toes, and Corythornis has a long droop- 

 ing crest, which distinguishes it at once from Alcedo. 



I. THE COMMON KINGFISHER. ALCEDO ISPIDA. 



Alcedo ispida^ Linn. S. N. i. p. 179 (1766); Macg. Br. B. iii. 

 p. 671 (1840); Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 113, pi. 290(1875); 

 Newt. ed. Yarr. ii. p. 443 (1881); B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 

 81 (1883); Seebohm, Br. B. ii. p. 341 (1884); Lilford, 

 Col. Fig. Br. B. part viii. (1888) ; Saunders, Man. p. 269 

 (1889); Sharpe, Cat. B. xvii. p. 141 (1892). 



{.Plate XXXIV.) 



Adult Male. — General colour greenish-blue, the scapular 

 feathers slightly streaked with brighter blue ; the back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts, rich cobalt-blue, sometimes, in very old 

 individuals, deep blue ; wing-coverts like the back, the median 

 and greater series spotted with greenish-cobalt ; bastard-wing, 

 primary-coverts and quills blackish, externally blue ; tail- 

 feathers also blue, with black shafts; crown of head greenish- 

 blue, with bands of dusky-black, and with a shaft-stripe of 

 greenish-blue ; lores blackish, with a streak of orange-rufous 

 above, the sides of the face and ear-coverts being also orange- 

 rufous ; cheek-stripe bright blue, with dusky bars ; on each 

 side of the neck a band of buffy-white feathers, slightly tinged 

 with orange-rufous ; under surface of body rich orange-rufous, 

 the throat buffy-white ; the sides of the upper breast greenish- 

 blue; bill black; feet coral-red; iris dusky-brown. Total length, 

 7-5 inches; culmen, 175 ; wing, 3-1; tail, 1*5 ; tarsus, o"35. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male, but not quite so bright in 

 colour, and always to be distinguished by having the basal half 

 of the ii?ider viandible red. Total length, 7-0 inches; culmen, 

 "^'"SS) ^ving, 3-0; tail, 1-4; tarsus, 0-3. 



Young. —Much more dingy in colour than the adults, and 

 always to be distinguished by the ashy margins to the feathers 

 of the fore-neck and breast, which impart an ashy shade to this 

 portion of the body. 



F 2 



