127 
On the Crested Hingtishers of Atrica. 
By R. B. Saarre. 
(With a Coloured Plate.) 
O much interest has been kindly manifested in the lecture on 
Kingfishers which I had the pleasure of delivering before 
the Society at the last annual meeting, that I have been 
induced to write a few words in commemoration thereof; and as 
’ an essay on the whole family would be tedious and uninteresting, 
I have chosen for the subject of the present paper the pretty 
little Crested Kingfishers of Africa ( Corythornis). 
It will be remembered that I spoke of the subfamily Alcedinide 
or true fish-feeding Kingfishers as being cosmopolitan, that is to 
say, representatives of this sub-family are found in all the dif- 
ferent zoological regions of the globe. But the Aithioplan region 
contains two genera entirely confined within its area, viz., Cory- 
thornis and Ispidina. As, however, the members of this latter 
genus, though closely allied to Corythornis, seem to feed more 
exclusively on insects, I propose to include them among the 
Halcyonine; supposing the connecting link between these two sub- 
families to be found in these two genera. 
The genus Corythornis contains only three species, all distin- 
_ guished by their beautiful long crests, which differ from those og 
all the other Kingfishers in the form of the feathers. All the 
Alcedinide possess a crest, more or less, but this is generally 
formed by the simple elongation of the feathers of the occiput, 
all and each crest-feather is attenuated towards the tip. But in 
Corythornis the crest is fan-like, commencing from the base of 
the bill, and getting broader as it graduates towards the tip. 
These crests the little Kingfishers are able to raise and depress at 
their pleasure, and they doubtless are assumed in full splendour 
during the breeding season. 
The three species of Corythornis may be distinguished by the 
