478 ALCEDINID^E. 



Family. ALCEDINID^E KINGFISHERS. 



Bill long, straight, thick, quadrangular, and pointed ; tongue short, flat and 

 fleshy ; nostrils lateral, oblique ; tail short ; wings moderate and rounded ; tarsi 

 short ; plumage thick, of singular brilliancy, in which blue, green and orange 

 are the prevailing colours. Habits solitary. Found near rivers, brooks, streams 

 or stagnant waters, from which they capture fish for subsistence. All kingfishers 

 agree in their manners. They generally perch on some tree or other elevated 

 object overhanging water, and there remain motionless for hours watching 

 till some fish comes undertheir view, when they will dive down perpendicularly 

 and bring up their prey. The scales of the fish are thrown up in small pellets. 



Sub-Family. ALCEDININ^E. 



Bill long, slender and compressed, acute and grooved near the culmen for 

 the greater part of its length ; gonys nearly straight. 



Gen. AlcedO. Linn. 



Bill long, slender, straight, compressed, the tip acute ; culmen sharp and 

 carinated ; commissure straight ; 2nd and 3rd quills sub-equal, $rd slightly the 

 longest, ist very little shorter; lateral toes syndactyle ; inner toe short. 



1110. Alcedo bengalensis, Gm., Syst. Nat. i. p. 450 ; Jerd., B. 



Ind. i. 230, No. 134; Sharpe, Mon. Alced. p. ii. pi. 2 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs 

 Ind. B. p. 107; Salvad, Ucc. Born, p. 92 ; Hume, Str. F. i. pp. 168, 169 ; iii. 

 p. 52; Blyth, B. Burnt, p. 71 ; Armstrong, Str. F. iv. p. 307; Legge, B. 

 Ceylon, p. 292 ; Anders., Yunnan Exped. p. 580 ; War dlaw- Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, 

 p. 457 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 8 1 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 86 ; Bingham, 

 Str. F. ix. p. 155 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 72. The LITTLE INDIAN 

 KINGFISHER. 



Head and hind neck dusky, each feather tipped with pale blue ; a band 

 from the nostrils to the ear coverts rufous ; a dark patch at the gape on 

 both upper and lower mandibles. Sides of the neck, chin and throat 

 white ; a streak of dusky feathers edged with blue from each corner of 

 the lower mandible dividing the white of the chin and throat and sides of the 

 neck ; quills dusky on their inner webs ; the outer webs dull greenish blue ; 

 scapulars dull bluish green ; back, rump and upper tail coverts pale blue ; 

 tail blue, tinged with greenish ; breast and entire under surface orange brown 

 or ferruginous. Bill blackish above, horny brown below ; irides dark brown ; 

 legs orange red. 



Length. 6'$ to 7 inches ; wing 2*75 ; tail r I ; bill at front 1*4. 



Hab. Throughout India ; also Ceylon and China. Occurs also in Beloo- 

 chistan and S. Afghanistan, but is rare. In Kutch, Kattiawar, N. Guzerat, 

 Concan and the Deccan, it is the common form where A. ispida does not 

 occur. In Sind it appears to be a seasonal visitant. 



