78 ALCEDINID^ ALCEDO 



This bird is somewhat sociable, three or four being often found 

 together ; they are very noisy, chattering and screaming loudly 

 over their fishing, which they conduct in much the same fashion 

 as the Pied Kingfisher ; they do, however, not appear to be so par- 

 ticular in their diet, crabs, frogs and reptiles as well as fishes being 

 equally relished. The first observer to notice their breeding habits 

 appears to be Mr. Walter Ayres who giv^es the following account : — 

 " One of their nests was discovered by my Boer driver in a per- 

 pendicular bank of a little stream running into the Letaba (in the 

 Zoutspansberg district of the Transvaal) at the drift ; it was in a 

 hole about four feet from the top of the bank, and, from below, a 

 man standing in the water up to his middle could just reach it. 

 The place was an awkward one to get at, especially as there were 

 crocodiles about ; however, my driver and a Kaffir, by digging with 

 a spade to a considerable depth managed to get the nest. The 

 Boer put his arm into the hole and felt the eggs ; he also felt the 

 old bird, not sitting on the eggs but a little to one side, where it 

 remained and allowed itself to be caught. This proved to be the 

 male bird. The eggs were four in number and white." This nest 

 was found in August. Mr. Marshall also found a nest in September 

 on the Umfuli river in Mashonaland. 



Genus II. ALCEDO. 



Type. 

 Alcedo, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 178 (1766) A. ispida. 



Bill long and compressed, the culmen, which is marked off by a 

 slight groove, rounded and not flattened, head slightly crested ; wing 

 pointed, the third and fourth primaries the longest ; tail very short 

 and rounded, shorter than the culmen ; hallux and inner toe 

 approximately equal ; always with metallic-blue on the back ; sexes 

 more or less alike. This genus is found throughout the Old World 

 except Australia and Polynesia. Three species inhabit Africa, only 

 one of which is found within our limits. 



414. Alcedo semitorquata. Half-collared Kingfisher. 



Alcedo semitorquata, Sioains. Zool. lUiistr. iii, pi. 151 (1823) ; Grill, K. 

 Vet. Akad. Hancll. StocMwlm, ii, no. 10, p. 46 (1858) [Knysna] ; P. L, 

 Sclater, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 22 [AVinclvogelberg] ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 65 

 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869, p. 364 ; Shar^pe, Monoyr. Alced. p. 27, pi. 7 (1869) ; 



