110 



ALCEDINin^v. 



Foreliead whitish ; headj neck and nape pale iridescent bluish 

 green ; chin greyish white ; throat bright bluish green with pale blue 

 shaft-streaks; breast, abdoinenj vent and lower tail-coverts pale bluish 

 green. Upper back, scapulars and tertiaries chestnut bay. vShoulders 

 and lesser coverts violet blue, as also are the lower back and rump. 

 Upper tail-coverts light blue. Primaries bluish black, the outer web 

 of the first two tinged with green, the next four light blue at the 

 base on their outer webs. Secondaries bluish blacky the basal half of the 

 feathers light blue; greater coverts pale blue. Tail, with the two 

 centre feathers, deep greyish green or ashy blue, the others dark 

 greenish blue for two-thirds their length on their outer webs, dusky 

 on their inner webs, and broadly tipped with light blue, the two 

 outermost feathers, with a spot of blackish blue at their tips; all the 

 feathers black shafted. Bill yellowish brown, darker at the tip; irides 

 red brown ; feet yellow brown. 



Length. — 13 inches, wing 7*75, tail 5, bill at front 1'37. 



Hub.- — Central and South P^urope, Madagascar, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, 

 N. E. Africa, Western and Central Asia. In Persia, Afghanistan, and 

 Turkistan it is said to breed. In Beloochistan, Punjab, N. W. Provinces 

 and Sind it occurs as a migrant. 



Family, ALCEDINID^,— Kingfishers. 



Bill long, straight and sharp; wings long and rounded; tarsi short. 

 Sub-Family, HALCYONIN^. 



Bill broad at base, compressed towards tip; tip and edges straight. 

 Gen. Halcyon. — Swainson. 



Bill long ; keel of upper mandible nearly straight ; of lower, angular. 

 Nostrils hidden by plumes ; third quill longest. Tarsi short, scaled 

 transversely. 



Halcyon Smyrnensis, Lin. Halcyon fuscus, Dod<L PI. Enl. 894 ; 

 Gould. B. Asia ; Jeidoii, i. p. 224, No 129; Murray, lldbk., ZooL, cj-c, 

 Sind, p. 128. — The White-breasted Kingfisher. 



Whole head, neck, abdomen, under tail and lesser wing-coverts rich 

 chestnut ; scapulars, tertiaries, back, rump and upper tail-coverts, 

 also the greater coverts and winglet blue; the scapulars and tertiaries 

 more dull ; median wing-coverts black ; quills blue, broadly tipped 

 v^^ith black, with a broad oblique bar of white on the inner webs of the 

 primaries ; chin, throat, neck in front and breast white. Tail blue, 

 the margins of their inner webs dusky brown, except the centre feathers, 

 -which are wholly greenish blue. Bill coral red; feet vermillion red; 

 eyes brown. 



Length. — 10'5 inches, wing 4*5 to 4*75, tail 3, bill at front 2*25. 



Hah. — The Peninsula of India and Ceylon to the base of the 

 Himalayas, extending to Singapoor and China. Recorded from the 

 Concans and Deccan, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore, Sambur, N. Guzerat, 

 Travancore and Nepaul. In Sind it is a resident, bi^eeding from April 

 to July. 



