THE PIED KINGFISHER. 77 



466. CERYLE RUDIS. 

 THE PIED KINGFISHER. 



Alcedo rudis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 181. Ceryle rudis, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 232 ; 

 Sharpe, Mon. Alced. p. 61, pi. 19 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 109 ; id. S. F. iii. 

 p. 52 ; Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 125, pi. ; El. B. Burm. p. 71 ; David et Oust.Ois.Ckine, 

 p. 77 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 580 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 288 ; Oates, S. F. 

 v. p. 143; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 85; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 86; Bingham, 

 S. F. ix. p. 157. 



Description. Male. Lores and a long supercilium white; forehead, 

 crown and nape black, sparingly streaked with white; back, scapulars, 

 wing-coverts, rump and upper tail-coverts black, edged with white ; tail 

 white at the base, then black and tipped with white; primaries black, with 

 a broad band of white at base, and narrowly tipped with white ; secondaries 

 and tertiaries mixed black and white ; the ear- coverts and feathers round the 

 eye black ; cheeks and whole lower plumage white ; a broad band of black 

 across the breast, followed by another narrow one, separated from the first 

 by a narrow band of white ; the lower throat and sides of the body spotted 

 with black in some specimens, unspotted in others. 



The female differs in having the broad black band across the breast 

 interrupted in the middle, and in having the second black narrow band 

 of the male entirely absent. 



Bill black ; mouth dusky ; iris dark brown ; eyelids pinkish ; legs 

 black ; claws dark horn. 



Length 11'7 inches, tail 3*3, wing 5*5, tarsus "45, bill from gape 3. The 

 female is of about the same size. 



The Pied Kingfisher is found commonly over the whole of Arrakan and 

 Pegu in the plains. In Tenasserim Mr. Davison did not observe it south 

 of Amherst ; but it may extend further south, for it is stated to have been 

 procured in the Malay peninsula. 



It is a bird of immense range; but it does not appear to be anywhere 

 migratory. It is found in Siam, Cochin China and over a considerable 

 portion of China, in the Indo-Burmese countries, the peninsula of India, 

 Persia, Asia Minor, Southern Europe and the whole continent of Africa. 



This common Kingfisher is mostly found in open country, where the 

 banks of the streams and ponds are more or less free from thick jungle ; 

 and it appears to be less common in the vicinity of the sea than elsewhere. 

 It hovers in the air, watching for fish, more habitually than any of the 

 other Kingfishers. I have found its eggs in October and November ; and 

 in some streams its nest-holes are quite common. The eggs are usually 

 five in number; and the tunnel leading to the egg-chamber is frequently 

 very short, in some cases not more than a foot in length. 



