126 ALC'EDINIDiE. 



Length about 8 ; tail 1-8; wing 3-8; tarsus -42; bill from 

 gape 2*5. 



Distribution, This Kingfisher has only been obtained at low 

 elevations in the Sikhim and Bhutan Himalayas, in the Dafla 

 hills east of Bhutan, and in some of the hills south of the Assam 

 valley. 



Habits, ^r. These were unknown until an excellent account of 

 them was given in the ' Asian ' ne\\spaper by " Eekab " (Mr. 

 Steuart Baker). He found the bird very shy, keeping to streams 

 in dense jungle, and feeding chiefly or wholly on fish. It is a 

 silent bird, its note, only uttered on the wing, resembling that of 

 A. is_pida, and its flight is exceedingly rapid. The eggs, taken on 

 three occasions in April, were from 2 to ^ in number, laid on fish- 

 bones at the end of a burrow, varying from 1 to 6 feet in length — in 

 two cases in dark ravines through which a little water trickled in 

 the rains, and in the third on the slope of a hill amongst the roots 

 of a tree. 



1039. Alcedo euryzona. T?ie Broad-zoned Kingfisher. 



Alcedo euryzona, Temm. PL Col. text to pi. 508 (1830) ; Horsf. i^- 

 M. Cat. p. 128; Sharpe, Man. Ale. p. 29, pi. 8 ; Hume, S. F. iii, 

 p. 318 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 75 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xvii, p. 154. 



Alcedo nigricans, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi, p. 1180 (1847) ; id. Cat. 

 p. 49 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, pp. 81, 499 ; Hume, Cat. no. 135 

 bis ; Bingham, S. F. ix, p. 156. 



Coloration. Male. Crown and nape sooty black, with narrow 

 faint greenish bars ; lores dull ferruginous ; cheeks and ear-coverts 

 bluish black, mixed with dull green ; a ferruginous or whitish 

 band on each side of the neck, forming an imperfect collar ; 

 middle of back and rump very pale blue, upper tail-coverts deeper 

 blue ; scapulars and wings sooty black, the scapulars and coverts 

 tipped and the inner quills edged near the base with greenish blue ; 

 tail black, washed above with dark blue ; lower parts huffy white, 

 a broad band of didl green across the breast, the feathers with 

 white centres ; flanks dusky ; wing-hning rufescent. 



Female. Lower parts ferruginous, chin and throat whitish ; no 

 band across breast ; upper parts as in males. 



tipper mandible black, lower very dark brown, paler at the 

 base in males, dull vermilion in females ; iris dark brown ; feet 

 milion {Davison). 



Length about 8; tail 1'5 ; wing 3-4; tarsus -48; bill from 

 gape 2'4. 



Distribution. Tenasserim, as far north as Muleyit east of 

 Moulmein, also in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and 

 Borneo. 



Habits, ^e. This is a rare and shy bird, found only on streams 

 in deep forest, and apparently restricted in Tenasserim to the 

 hills. It is generally seen in pairs, lives entirely, so far as is 

 known, on fish, and has a note similar to that of A. isjjida. 



