92 ALCEDINID^E 



HALCYON 



conspicuous towards the inner secondaries; tail blue, slightly darker 

 than the back ; below, including the under wing- and tail-coverts, 

 white ; the cheeks, ear-coverts, breast and flanks, slightly dusted 

 with a greenish-silvery freckling ; tail and wing-quills black below. 



Iris dark grey ; bill, upper mandible red, lower jet-black ; legs 

 and feet black. 



Length 8-8; wing 4-40; tail 3*0 ; culmen 1-75; tarsus 0-55. 



The female resembles the male in colour and size. 



Distribution. The Angola Kingfisher is found over the greater 

 part of Africa from Ashantee in the west and Abyssinia in the 

 east southwards. Within our limits it is not very common ; it 

 has only once been obtained in the Colony at Knysna by Mr. W. 

 Atmore ; other localities are Zululand Monocusi (Umhlatuzi) river 

 (Ayres), Ulundi and Black Umfolosi (Woodward); Transvaal 

 Lydenburg (Francis in S. A. Mus.), Limpopo river (Buckley) > 

 Bechuanaland Bamangwato (Exton) ; Ehodesia Nata river west 

 of Bulawayo (Gates), Salisbury (Marshall in litt.) ; German south- 

 west Africa Ondonga in Ovampoland (Andersson). 



This bird is considered by Sharpe in his catalogue as a sub- 

 species of Halcyon senegalensis, from which it differs only in having 

 the crown the same colour as the back, whereas in the former the 

 crown is brown and contrasts with the back. In the South African 

 specimens that I have examined the crown varies in shade a good 

 deal, but is always somewhat duller than the back ; but at present 

 the relations of these two species, or sub-species, to one another, 

 are not easily settled, more especially as they inhabit much the 

 same area. 



Habits. Little has been noticed about the habits of this bird. 

 Buckley states that it is shy and has a monotonous whistle, while 

 Andersson remarks on its pleasant thrilling notes ; to the Wood- 

 wards its voice could be compared only to the somewhat unromantic 

 sound of " the mainspring of a clock let loose." 



A 



422. Halcyon senegaloides. Mangroove Kingfisher. 



Halcyon senegaloides, Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. (2) no. 2, p. 144 

 (1834) [Port Natal] ; id. III. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pi. 63 (1840) ; 

 Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 265 ; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 63 (1867) ; Sharpe, 

 Monogr. Alced. p. 187, pi. 68 (1869) ; id. ed. Layard' s B. S. Afr. 

 p. 119 (1875) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 117 (1896). 



Halcyon irrorata, Eeiclieiib. Handb. Alced. p. 11, pi. 400, fig. 3078 



