/ 



336 MR. W. J. F. WILLIAMSON ON 



Descriptidii, Ijengtli alioiit 292 mm. (11.5 in.). C'nnvn, nape 

 aiul sides of liead black — a few wliite featliers below the eye ; a broad 

 buffy wliite collar round the neck, followed by a blackish band behind ; 

 scapulars, back, rump, upper tail-coverts, upper surface of tail, outer 

 webs of secondaries and tertiaries above, and greater priniarj" coverts 

 deep blue, brigiiter on the lower back ami rump ; remaining wing- 

 coverts black : primary quills lilack at the ends ( the first primaries for 

 half their length, the inner ones for less), with tlie basal portion white 

 on the inner web, pale bluish lilac on tlie outer web, opposite the white, 

 and deep Idue for a short distance beyond the lilac part ; secondary 

 quills deep blue on outer web and a small portion of inner web near 

 the shafr, the remainder of the inner web black. Chin, throat and middle 

 of breast white ; sides of throat and breast and remainder of lower 

 surface, with the wing-lining, ferruginous buff; tail black beneath. 



In young birds, and in nianj- females, the breast-feathers liave 

 dark edges, and there are a few smallblack s])ots on thesides of the tiiroat. 



Tiis dark brown. Rill deep sealing-wa.\ red, dusky at base. 

 Mouth sealing-wax red. I^egs dusk)' I'ed in front, bright sealing-wax 

 red behind and on soles. Claws dark horn-colour. 



BiHrilndion. So far recorded from all parts of the country 

 except tl;e lOastern and Western, but it must occur iheiv also, as 

 it is found both in Fi'ench lndo-china_( Oustalet ) and in J'uinia, in- 

 cluding Tenasserim. Rlanford {op. cit., p , 131 ) remarks that this bird 

 is '■ seldom found inland," though sjiecimens have been o))tained some 

 distance up the rivers in jJui-ma. In Siani it has been procured bj' 

 (lyldenstcilpe several hundred miles from the sea, at Meh lipm, I'rae, 

 Northern Siam, and 1 have also a specimen from the same locality, 

 obtained four years later. 



Ifiiliih. il'-. This bird, so far as my observations e.\tend, occurs 

 in I'angkok onl\' from October to i\[arch, during which months it is 

 quite cjni:n)ii. It, probably leaves Bangkok to breed, but there is no 

 infoi-iuation eitluM- in the Fauna of British India, or Hume's Nests and 

 E^gs of Indian Birds (2nd, K Htion) as to when this occurs, while in 

 the Catalogue of Birds' Figgs in the British Museun (Vol. iii, p. 38), 

 no dates are given for the two clutches reconled from Borneo and 

 China. I'esppctivcly. Like dther Kingfishers, this binl li;is a straight, 



.inrKN. N.\r. iiisr, sue, siam. 



