134 alcediniDjE. 



Bill deep red ; iris dark brown ; legs dark red (Gates). 



Length about 12 ; tail 3*25 ; wing 5 ; tarsus -6 ; bill from 

 gape 2-8. 



Distribution. A single specimen was obtained by Jerdon at 

 Tellicherry, Malabar coast, and another by Layard in Northern 

 Ceylon. The only other known locahty in India is on the 

 Ganges, where this Kingfisher has been found as high as 

 Monghyr. It is more common in the Sundarbans and down the 

 Burmese coast, being especially abundant in the Irravvaddy 

 delta. It also occurs in the Andaman and Xicobar Islands. It 

 is seldom found inland, but Oates obtained a specimen on the 

 Irrawaddy at Palow, below Thayet Myo, and it appears, according 

 to Davison and Bingham, to wander up the Tenasserim rivers 

 from September till February. It ranges through the Malay 

 Peninsula and Archipelago to Celebes, also through Siam, Cam- 

 bodia and China, to Corea. 



Habits, Sfc. This Kingfisher, though chiefly found on salt-water 

 creeks and mangrove-swamps, haunts fresh-water streams at times. 

 It lives on fish and crabs and has, like most Kingfishers, a shrill 

 cry. 



Genus CALLIALCYON, Bp., 1850. 



This genus is distinguished by its peculiar plumage, being 

 rufous throughout except on the lower back and rump. There is 

 no white on the primaries. Otherwise there is no diff'erence 

 from Halajon. A single species. 



1046. Callialcyon lilacina. The RuJ/hj Kingfisher. 



Alcedo coromanda, Latham, Ind. Orn. \, p. 252 (1790). 



Halcyon coromanda, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii, pt. 2, p. 100 ; 



Sharjje, Man. Ale. p. 155, p. .57 ; Ball, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 277 : 



Hume, S. F. ii, pp. 169, 494 ; xi, p. 44 ; id. Cat. no. 131 ; Bli/th ^ 



Wald. Birds Burm. p. 70 : Wardl.-Iiamsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 456 ; 



Hume 4 Bav. S. F. vi, p. 75 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 81 ; Sharpe, Cat. 



B. M. xvii, p. 217. 

 Halcvon lilacina, Sivains. Classif. B. ii, p. 335 (1837) ; Bona]?. Consj). 



Av. i, p. 156. 

 Alcyon calipyga, Hodtjs. in Gray^s Zool. Misc. p. 82 (1844), descr. 



nulla. 

 Halcyon coromauder, Blyth, Cat. p. 47. 

 Halcvon coromandelianus, Horsf. ^~ M. Cat. p. 126 ; Jerdon, B. I. 



i, p. 227. 

 Callialcyon coromanda, Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 302. 



Coloration. Upper parts, with the wing and tail, and sides of 

 the head and neck light chestnut or cinnamon, more or less over- 

 laid with a red-violet gloss ; middle of lower back and rump white, 

 mixed with pale blue and occasionally with violet ; lower parts 

 rufous, varying in depth, paler on the throat and chin. 



Toung with dark edges to the breast-feathers. 



Bill red, blackish at the base ; iris brown ; legs and claw"s red 

 (Oates). 



