Ornithology of the Egyptian Soudan. 355 



I found the little Malachite-crested Kingfisher common 

 on the khor which runs from Gallabat down to the Atbara, 

 and in the papyrus-swam pa of the Upper White Nile and 

 the Bahr-el-Ghazal. On the lower and less swampy parts of 

 the White Nile it is not common. Along the Blue Nile, 

 which has steeper and less marshy banks, I have seen only 

 Ispidina picta. 



The little khor at Gallabat, several times mentioned in 

 this paper, is a great resort of Kingfishers, as well as of many 

 other birds ; on it 1 have been able to watch Ceryle maxima, 

 Ceryle rudis, Halcyon semiccsrulea , Corythornis cyanostigma , 

 and Ispidina picta all fishing at the same pool — a sight which 

 I have never seen elsewhere. 



159. Ispidina picta (Bodd.). 



a. ? . Gallabat, May 7, 1901. 



b. £ . Setit River, May 10, 1903. 



c. S • Roseires, May 26, 1901. 



I have only seen this lovely little Kingfisher on the 

 eastern side of the country, on the Blue Nile and its 

 tributaries the Rahad and Dinder, on the Upper Atbara, and 

 the Setit. It is largely an insect-eater, and is often met 

 with in the bush some little distance from water. 



Mr. L. Gorriuge, of the Slavery Department, tells me 

 that he obtained a clutch of four partly incubated eggs 

 at Roseires on May 29th, 1903. The nest-hole was in the 

 side of the entrance to an ant-bear's earth. 



160. Halcyon semic^ruleus (Forskal). 



a. $ . Gallabat, May 6, 1901. 



b. 3 . Setit River, May 7, 1903. 



c. tf . Roseires, May 26, 1904. 



This handsome Kingfisher seems widely distributed. I 

 have met with it from the Setit and Upper Atbara on the 

 east right across to Western Kordofan, and as far south as 

 the Bahr-el-Ghazal. It is locally migratory to the extent of 

 spreading in the rains over tracts of country which are 

 waterless during the dry weather, during which it is only 

 met with in the neighbourhood of the rivers. 



