CEYX. 127 



Genus CEYX, Lace'pede, 1801. 



Bill intermediate in form between Alcedo and Halcyon, less com- 

 pressed than in the former, not grooved ; culmen straight and 

 slightly flattened. Only three toes, the inner or second wanting. 

 Tail very short and rounded. Plumage very bright, red often 

 predominating. 



This is a genus of 18 species, ranging almost throughout the 

 Oriental region and to the Papuan Islands. One species is 

 Indian. 



1040. Ceyx tridactyla. The Indian Three-teed Kingfisher. 



Alcedo tridactyla, Pallas, Spic. Zool. vi, p. 10, pi. ii, fig. 1 (1769). 



Alcedo erithaca et purpurea, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 449 (1788). 



Ceyx tridactyla, Jerdon, III. Ind. Orn. pi. 25 ; id. B. I. i, p. 229 ; 

 Horsf. $ M. Cat. p. 391 ; Layard, A. M. N. H. ('2} xii, p. 172; 

 Sharpe, Mon. Ale. p. 119, pi. 40; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 173; iii, 

 p. 51 ; iv, p. 287 ; v, p. 19 ; xi, p. 45 j id. Cat. no. 133 ; Butter, 

 S. F. ii, p. 455 ; v, p. 503 ; ix, p. 383 ; Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 137 ; 



ix, p. 478 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 80 ; Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. 



(2) iv, p. 587 ; vii, p. 433 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 101 ; Oates in 



Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 13 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xvii, 



p. 174. 



Ceyx microsoma, Burton, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 89. 

 Ceyx erythaca, Blyth, Cat. p. 50. 



The Three-toed Purple Kingfisher, Jerdon ; Dein-nygeen, Arrakan : 

 Punchi Mal-pelihuduwa, Cing. 



Coloration. A spot, pointed behind, at base of forehead black, 

 washed with purple ; crown, nape, hind neck, lower back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts orange-red, with a ruddy violet gloss, espe- 

 cially over the eye and on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; a 

 black spot before the eye ; lores, cheeks, ear-coverts, and lower 

 parts from the throat orange-yellow ; chin and throat white ; a 

 deep blue spot behind the ear-coverts bordered behind by white ; 

 scapulars and interscapulary region deep purplish blue ; wing dark 

 brown outside, coverts tinged with deep blue ; edge of wing and 

 smallest coverts, under wing-coverts, outer edge of first primary, 

 and inner borders of all quills rufous ; tail orange-red. 



Bill and feet bright vermilion-red ; irides brown (Davwon). In 

 the young the bill is paler and shorter. 



Length about 5-5; tail 1; wing 2-2; tarsus -3; bill from 

 gape 1-55. 



Distribution. Ceylon, rare ; Carnatic and w r est coast of Southern 

 India according to Jerdon, but very rare ; also some of the Sahyadri 

 forests near Bombay. I find no other localities recorded in the 

 Indian Peninsula, but Jerdon says this species is scattered, 

 though far from common, over all India. To the eastward this 

 Kingfisher is found in Lower Bengal, the Sikhim and Bhutan 



