134 ON THE ORESTED KINGFISHERS OF AFRICA. 
informs us that it is ‘‘ universal on all the waters, sitting on the 
reeds or bushes which overhang them, and darting on its prey, 
A larger species of Alcedo was observed among the rapids of the 
Shire, but not anywhere else.’ I think this last species must 
have been Alcedo semitorquata, which is in Mr. Dawson Rowley’s 
collection from the Zambesi. In Abyssinia, according to Von 
Heuglin, the present species is ‘common and resident in Abys- 
sinia, up to 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, in the Bogos 
Country, and in the country adjoining the Gazelle river.” Mr, 
Blanford has very kindly given me the accompanying note. 
“‘T found this Kingfisher only on the highlands of Abyssinia 
but never much above 700 feet above the sea. I did not meet 
with it on the Anseba, and suspect that it is confined to the tem- 
perate region. It keeps to the banks of streams, and has, so far 
as I had opportunities of judging, precisely the flight and habits 
of Alcedo ispida, sitting on a branch over the water and thence 
dashing down upon fish, and when disturbed skimming rapidly 
along the stream just above the surface of the water. I never 
saw it far from water. It was not very common.” 
Des Murs in the ‘ Voyage en Abyssinie’ observes:— ‘The 
first example was found on the river Assem near Adoua on the 
25th of July, 1839, and a second was killed on the river of Waye 
Gongona on the 7th of April, 1840. It has all the flight and habits 
of our common species, and frequents the borders of the rivers.” 
It will be seen from the accompanying observations of the 
Messieurs Verreaux, that their experience of the Abyssinian race 
being about the same size as the South African, is exactly con- 
trary to my own; and if their observations in this respect be 
correct, there can be no hesitation in the mind of any ornitholo- 
gist in uniting the C. cristata from all parts of Africa under one 
and the same specific designation. I suspect, however, that as 
it is the case with so many other African birds, two races differ- 
ing only in size may be found to inhabit respectively the highlands 
ano plains of the same country. The above-named ornithologists 
have given us the following note: —‘‘ This species exactly resem- 
bles that of South Africa, which appears to be widely diffused ; 
