96 DOUBLE-COLLARED KINGFISHER. 



white Kingfishers, of regions vastly more distant, 

 will eventually prove to be equally distinct. 



It is utterly impossible to draw up a minute 

 description of the plumage of a bird whose every 

 feather, almost, is varied, in a different manner, 

 with black and white ; we must, therefore, as in the 

 case of the Caprimulgidce, single out the most 

 prominent characteristics. The crown of the head 

 and the crest on the nape is not entirely black, as 

 in the Cape species, but each feather has a very 

 narrow line of white, producing a striped appear- 

 ance; the white stripe which springs from each 

 nostril is carried over the eye and ears, and is lost 

 in the variegated feathers of the crest ; below this is 

 a black line which is the continuation of the black 

 on the ears ; following this is another collar of pure 

 white round the nape, which in like manner is a 

 continuation of the white on the throat. As to the 

 wings, almost every quill has a different proportion 

 of black and white, but the outer web of the ninth 

 and tenth quill (except the tips) are entirely black. 

 The under plumage is pure glossy white, with a 

 broad unbroken black belt (narrowed in the middle) 

 across the breast, and another, equally entire, much 

 narrower, but of equal breadth throughout ; half an 

 inch below the first, the flanks have a few stripes of 

 black. The figure of the PL Enl. 62 may possibly 

 represent the young bird. 



Total length about 10^ inches ; bill, from the 

 front, 2 T 2 ; wings, 5^ ; tail beyond, 1^ ; ditto from 

 the base, 3| ; tarsus, T 5 5 . 



