82 ALCEDINID^ CORYTHOBKIS 



a shade of violet ; quills dusky ; tail like the back ; throat and a 

 line of feathers on the side of the neck behind the ear-coverts white ; 

 a frontal patch, ear-coverts, cheeks and rest of the under surface 

 including the axillaries and under wiug-coverts a rich rufous-buff. 



Iris brown ; bill and legs coral- red. 



Length in the flesh 5'90 ; in the skin 5-40 ; wing 2-3 ; tail I'O ; 

 culmen 1-35 ; tarsus 0-30. 



The adult female resembles the male. In the young bird both 

 male and female, the back is more blackish and the blue is cobalt 

 rather than ultramarine and tips the black feathers ; below, the ear- 

 coverts and cheeks are darker and spotted with black, the chest also 

 is a duskier brown ; bill black and much shorter ; culmen only 

 measuring about 1 inch ; feet blackish tinged with red. 



Fig. SO.—Corynwrnis cyanostigma. x -J. 



Distribution. — The Malachite Kingfisher is found throughout the 

 greater part of Africa south of the Sahara from Senegambia and 

 Abyssinia (whence came Riippell's type) to the Colony and Natal. 



In South Africa it occurs abundantly, and as a resident where- 

 ever there are suitable localities as follows : Cape Colony — Cape, 

 Malmesbury, Oudtshoorn and Knysna (Victorin), Stockenstroom 

 (Atmore), Cathcart (Boulger), Port Elizabeth, Peddie, East London 

 Pondoland and Upiugton in Gordonia ; Natal — Durban (Shelley) 

 Pinetowm (Stark), Newcastle (Butler), and Eshowe (Woodward) 

 Orange Eiver Colony — Valsch river at Kroonstad (Symonds) 

 Transvaal — Lydenburg, Rustenburg, and Potchefstroom (Ayres) 

 Rhodesia — Sibanani west of Bulawayo (Gates), near Victoria Falls 

 (Holub), Quae Quae and Umfuli rivers (Ayres) ; Portuguese east 

 Africa — along the Zambesi (Kirk and Alexander). 



Habits. — This beautiful little bird is fairly abundant throughout 



