124 



but in some parts it breeds at other seasons. It digs in a bank 

 immediately over water, usually a stream, a narrow hole, about 

 2 feet in depth and rarely more than 2 inches in diameter, 

 terminating in a chamber about 5 inches in diameter and 3 or 4 

 high, in which 5 to 7 eggs are laid, very often on a few fish-bones. 

 The eggs are white and glossy and measure *8 by *68. 



1036. Alcedo beavani. Beavan's Kingfisher. 



Alcedo memnting, apudBeavan, Ibis, 1867, p. 319 ; Blanf. Ibis, 1870, 

 p. 465 ; Gates, S. F. v, p. 143 ; Brooks, S. F. viii, p. 468 ; Saka- 

 dori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) iy, p. 584 (nee Horsf.). 



Alcedo asiatica, apud Ball, S. F. i, p. 59 ; Hume, 8. F. ii, p. 174 j 

 Ball, S. F. iii, p. 289 ; Blyth $ Wold. Birds Burnt, p. 71 ; Hume, 

 S. F. iv, p. 383 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 73 ; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd 

 ed. iii, p. 6 (nee Swainson). 



Alcedo rufierastra, Wald. A. M. N. H. (4) xii, p. 487 (1873); id. 

 Ibis, 1874, p. 136. 



Alcedo beavani, Wald. A. M. N. H. (4) xiv, p. 158 (1874) ; id. Ibis, 



p. 383 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 351 : Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 102 ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. M. xvii, p. 160. 



Coloration. Crown, nape, and hind neck black, with bright blue 

 cross-bands ; lores ferruginous, the lower border black ; sides of 

 head and cheeks bright blue, an elongate buff or white spot on 

 each side of the neck behind the ear-coverts ; middle of back and 

 rump bright light blue, sometimes with a slight greenish tint ; 

 upper tail-coverts rather darker blue ; scapulars, wing-coverts, and 

 outer margins of secondary quills dull blue, most of the coverts 

 each with a bright blue spot at the tip ; quills brown, with the 

 inner margins pale rufous ; tail deep blue above, black below ; 

 chin and throat buffy white ; rest of lower parts, including wing- 

 lining, deep ferruginous. 



Adult females resemble males ; young birds have the cheeks and 

 ear-coverts rufous, and the blue on these parts appears to be more 

 slowly assumed by females than by males. 



Bill black, orange at the gape and base ; iris dark brown ; legs 

 bright red, claws red. Young birds have most of the lower 

 mandible red and the tip white (Oates}. 



Length about 6 '2 ; tail 1-25 ; wing 2*5 ; tarsus '35 ; bill from 

 gape 1-8-2-2. 



Distribution. This Kingfisher is very rare west of the Bay of 

 Bengal, but has been obtained in Travancore and west of Belgaum 

 near the Malabar coast, also in the Eajmehal Hills, Manbhoorn, and 

 Cuttack, and, quite recently, in Ceylon. It is more common at 

 the base of the Himalayas in Sikhim and Bhutan, in Assam and 

 Cachar, in various parts of Burma from Bhamo to Southern Tenas- 

 serim, and in the Andaman Islands, bu it is locally distributed. 

 It has also been brought from Cochin China and Celebes. 



