THE MALAYAN KINGFISHER. 73 



This small and well-known Kingfisher frequents streams of running 

 water, canals, ponds and ditches. It is not an inhabitant of forests, being 

 almost always found in comparatively open country. It catches small 

 fishes either by darting on them from a perch on the side of the water or 

 by poising itself in the air in midstream and making a sudden plunge. 



It lays its eggs, which are sometimes as many as seven, in a chamber at 

 the end of a narrow tunnel bored by the bird itself in the bank of a stream 

 or of a well, and in this latter situation C apt. Wardlaw Ramsay found the 

 eggs near Rangoon. The eggs of this and of all other Kingfishers are 

 glossy white and spherical in shape. In Burmah it probably breeds from 

 March to June. 



A. grandis, from Sikhim, is similar in general appearance to the present 

 bird, but is of very bright coloration and large size, the wing being nearly 

 four inches in length. It is of extreme rarity. 



463. ALCEDO ASIATICA. 

 THE MALAYAN KINGFISHER. 



Alcedo asiatica, Swains. Zool III 1st ser. i. pi. 50 ; Sharpe, Mon. Alced. p. 23, pi. 5 ; 

 Ball, S. F. i. p. 59 ; Hume, S. F. ii. pp. 174, 494, iv. p. 383 ; Bl. 8f Wald. B. 

 Burm. p. 71. Alcedo meningting, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 172; 

 Sakad. Ucc. Born. p. 93 ; Oates, S. F. v. p. 143 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 83 ; 

 Hume, S. F. viii. p. 86 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 188. Alcedo rufigastra, Wald. 

 Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, xii. p. 487 ; id. Ibis, 1874, p. 136. Alcedo beavani, 

 Wald. Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, xiv. p. 158 j id. Ibis, 1875, p. 461 j Hume, S. F. 

 iv. p. 287 j Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 84; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 36, ix. p. 247. 



Description. Male. A patch on the lores ferruginous, bordered below 

 by a narrow black line ; sides of the head bright blue ; a long patch of 

 white on each side of the neck ; forehead, crown and nape black banded 

 with bright blue; back, rump and upper tail-coverts shining cobalt; 

 scapulars dull blue with bright blue tips; winglet and primary-coverts 

 black ; upper wing-coverts blue, each feather tipped with brighter blue ; 

 primaries black, rufous on the inner webs; secondaries and tertiaries 

 brown, washed with blue on the outer webs ; chin and throat white tinged 

 with buff ; remainder of lower plumage bright chestnut, some of the feathers 

 on the sides of the breast tipped with blue. 



The adult female does not differ from the male as is usually asserted ; 

 but the blue cheeks and ear-coverts are not assumed so quickly as in the 

 male. Traces of ferruginous are visible in these parts until the bird is 

 aged. 



The young bird differs in having the cheeks and ear-coverts ferruginous : 



