THE BLACK-CAPPED KINGFISHER. 83 



472. HALCYON PILEATA. 

 THE BLACK-CAPPED KINGFISHER. 



Alcedo pileata, n<nld. Tall. PL Enl. p. 41. Alcedo atricapilla, Gm. Syst. Nat. 

 i. p. 453. Halcyon atricapillus, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 226. Halcyon pileata, 

 Sharpe, Mon. Alccd. p. 1G9, pi. 62; Hume, S. F. iii. p. 51 ; El. B. JBurm. p. 70 ; 

 Armstrong, S. F. iv. p. 306 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 301 ; Hume fy Dav. 8. F. vi. 

 p. 74 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 85 ; Bingham, S. F. viii. p. 193, ix. p. 154 ; Kelham, 

 Ibis, 1881, p. 380 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 187. Entomobia pileata, Salvad. Ucc. 

 Born. p. 102 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 75. 



Description. Male. Forehead, crown, nape, ear-coverts, cheeks and 

 moustache black, the lores and forehead slightly mottled with whitish; chin, 

 throat and neck white tinged with fulvous, forming a very broad collar; back, 

 rump, scapulars and upper tail-coverts glossy violet-purple, shading into 

 black near the white collar ; tail rich violet-purple, all but the central pair 

 of feathers bordered with black on the outer webs and tipped slightly with 

 fulvous-white; wing-coverts black; winglet and primary-coverts blue ; the 

 shafts of the first six primaries black, of the others black with the central 

 portion white ; primaries white at base, black at the end, the white tinged 

 with blue on the outer webs and speckled with blue near the white parts of 

 the shafts ; secondaries and tertiaries blue on the outer webs ; the inner 

 webs blue next the shaft, black elsewhere, and all tipped black ; breast 

 pale fulvous, with brown specks arranged in crescentic forms ; centre of 

 abdomen white; remainder of lower plumage rich fulvous. 



The female resembles the male, but has the breast sometimes streaked 

 with black. This, however, may only denote immaturity. 



Bill deep red; mouth pale red; iris dark brown; eyelids pinkish 

 plumbeous, covered with white feathers except on the edges, where they 

 are black ; legs dark red, brownish in front of the tarsus ; claws dark 

 horn. 



Length 12 inches, tail 3'6, wing 5, tarsus '7, bill from gape 2'8. The 

 female is of the same size. 



The Black-capped Kingfisher is found in all the maritime portions 

 of British Burmah and also at a considerable distance up the larger rivers. 

 In the Irrawaddy I procured it at Palow, not many miles below Thayetmyo ; 

 and in the Sittang I observed it to be numerous in the interminable creeks 

 and swamps on the right bank of the river below Shwaygheen. At both 

 these localities the water is always sweet. As a rule, however, this bird is 

 found more commonly in salt or brackish water. It appears to feed 

 entirely on fish, and to plunge after them from its resting-place. 



This bird is found over the greater part of India, in Ceylon, the Andaman 

 Islands, China, Siam, Cochin China, the Philippine Islands, the Malay 

 peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. 



G2 



