482 ALCEDINID/E. 



p. 86 ; Bingham, Str. F. ix. p. 157 ; Murray, Hdbk. Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 129 ; 

 id., Vert. Zool., Sind, p. H2; Oates, B. Br. Burmali ii. p. 77. The PIED 

 KINGFISHER. 



Head, hind neck, and a broad streak behind the eye extending down the 

 sides of neck black, finely streaked with white ; supercilium white ; chin, 

 throat, sides of the neck, and upper breast white ; the latter with a few of the 

 feathers tipped black in some specimens; lower parts white, with a broad 

 band of black, and a narrower one also, in males, across the lower breast, and 

 in some specimens a few dark spots on the abdomen and flanks ; primaries 

 black ; edge of the outer web of the first primary and the bases of the others 

 white, forming a conspicuous white band ; primary coverts black ; back, 

 rump, upper tail coverts and scapulars black, tipped broadly with white ; tail 

 black, the feathers basally and at the tips white. Bill black ; legs dusky brown ; 

 irides dark brown. 



Length. 10-5 to 11 inches; wing 5-5 ; tail 3 ; bill at front 2-3. 



ffabS,-E. Europe, N.-E. Africa, Western Asia, Burmah and Malayana. 

 Found all over India to Nepaul. In Sind it is a resident and breeds in holes 

 along the banks of the Indus and canals from March to May. Eggs 2 4 

 in number, oval, white. 



Sub-Family. HALCYONIN^E. 



Kingfishers of larger size than the Alcedinidae, with strong, thick and 

 straight bills, broad at the base, with the culmen flattened and slightly inclin- 

 ing upwards to the tip, groove of upper mandible strongly marked ; wings short 

 and broad; tarsus and toes small and feeble, the latter nearly syndactyle ; 

 rictus smooth. 



Gen. Halcyon. Swainson. 



Bill long and straight, somewhat quadrangular ; lower mandible angulated ; 

 nostrils hidden by plumes ; 3rd quill longest, 4th and 5th subequal ; tail 

 short, rounded or even ; outer toe nearly as long as the middle one. 



1117. Halcyon COromanda (Lath!), Sharpe, Mon. Alced. p. 55, 

 pi. 57 ; Hume, Str. F. ii. pp. 169, 494 ; Blyth, B. Burm. p. 70 ; Wardlaw- 

 Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, P- 45$; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 75; Hume, 

 Str. F. viii. p. 85; Oates, B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 81. Alcedo coromanda, 

 Lath., Ind. Orn. i. p. 252. Halcyon coromandelianus (Scop.'), Jerd., B. Ind. 

 i. p. 227, No. 131. Callialcyon coromanda, Salvad, Ucc. Born, p. 101 ; Dav. 

 et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 76. The RUDDY KINGFISHER. 



Whole upper plumage rich rufous, overlaid with shining peach lilac, except 

 on the forehead; crown, lores, sides of the face and quills, also the inner 

 webs of quills dull rufous ; band across the middle of the lower back and rump 

 bluish white ; chin white ; rest of under surface of the body ferruginous ; 

 bill and legs red j irides brown. 



