403 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on the 



female obtained near Chirinda on April 1st the front of the 

 tarsi was dusky brown^ but the back was orange-pink, as 

 were also the soles. The irides were a darker brown than 

 in the adult bird. 



177. Halcyon swainsoni. Grey-headed Kingfisher. 



P. During my journey across the low veld in December 

 1906, and the succeeding January, I constantly came 

 across this Kingfisher in the open woodlands, nearly always 

 perched solitary on some prominent but low branch of a 

 tree, on the look-out for passing insects. Localities where 

 it appeared to be especially numerous were (in December) 

 between Chibabava and Muchukwana; and in January, near 

 Muchukwana, at the Uratefu, and between the Muzala and 

 Inyajena. The stomach of one of my specimens contained 

 two large crickets and other insect debris. The bill of a 

 non-breeding male was of a rather dusky red, the front of 

 the tarsus and upper surface of the toes dusky red, while the 

 back of the tarsus and the soles were bright coral-red. In a 

 second specimen, apparently a female, the bill was dull reddish 

 brown with the point blackish and the extreme tip amber, 

 while the feet were of the same colour or perhaps slightly 

 more pink. The former measured 8*1 inches in the flesh. 



178. Halcyon orientalis. Peters's Kingfisher. 

 Chindao : " Idederigwa " (applied to all Bush-King- 

 fishers). 



Rh., P. During 1906 I noted this, our common Bush- 

 Kingfisher, on the Inyamadzi and Lusitu Rivers, on both 

 occasions in September, as well as about Chirinda. I 

 also found it at Chibabava in December, alighting on 

 projecting branches with a loud Woodpecker-like cackle 

 (sometimes after a flight down the river) or frequenting the 

 large shady Trichilias in the neighbourhood. Among beetles 

 these birds appear to have a special partiality for Cetoniidse, 

 and in one bird^s stomach I found an Amphisbana. They are 

 also readily trapped by means of Melolonthid larvae. In the 

 breeding male the bill is bright scarlet, with the tip, and 

 sometimes the base, dusky 5 the feet, too, are scarlet, with 



