95 



DOUBLE-COLLARED KINGFISHER. 



Ispida licincta, Sw^iNS. 



Crested ; body above, variegated with black and white ; be- 

 neath, white Avith two black collars on the breast ; nuchal 

 collar white and immaculate. 



WHEN we find all authors affirming that the Black 

 and White Kingfisher " inhabits various regions, 

 both of Asia and Africa, Egypt, Persia, Senegal, 

 and the Cape of Good Hope, that it varies both 

 in size and in the particular mixture of its colours," 

 it is impossible not to conclude that more than one 

 species is confounded under the common name of 

 Alcedo rudis, and that in all probability this mixture 

 of black and white in the plumage, instead of being 

 the character of a species, more probably belongs to 

 a small division of the genus. The bird now be- 

 fore us affords at least a confirmation, in one 

 instance, of such a supposition. All writers* agree 

 in stating that the true Alcedo rudis of the Cape of 

 Good Hope has but one black belt on the breast, 

 whereas the species now before us has two. When, 

 therefore, we find so strong a specific distinction 

 between birds inhabiting two localities so compara- 

 tively near to each other as Senegal and the Cape, 

 we may fairly conclude that the other black and 



* See particularly Edwards, i. pi. 9 ; Bu/on ed. Sonnini, xx. 

 192; said PI. Enl. 716. 



