132 



1044. Halcyon smyrnensis. The White-breasted Kingfisher. 



Alcedo smyrnensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 181 (1766). 



Alcedo fusca, Bodd. TaU. PL Enl. p. 54 (1783). 



Halcyon smyrnensis, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 84 ; Jerdon, Madr. 

 Jour. L. S. xi, p. 230 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 47 ; Sharpe, Mon. Ale. p. 161, 

 pi. 59 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 168 ; ii, p. 167 ; xi, p. 44 ; id. Cat. 

 no. 129 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 74 ; Anderson, Yunnan Exped., 

 Aves, p. 579 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 298 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 82 ; 



Haley. 



Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p.' 347. 

 Halcyon saturatior, Hume, S. F. ii, pp. 168, 531 ; id. Cat. no. 129 bis; 



Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xvii, p. 226. 



Kilkila, H. : Nula muchrdla, Chamba ; Khandu, Khandya, Malir. ; 

 Sada-buk Machranga, Beng 1 . ; Lak-muka, Buche gattu, Tel. ; Vichuli, 

 Tarn. ; Kalari Kuruvi, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Pelihudmva, Cing. ; Dane-nyin, 

 Bum. 



Coloration. Chin, throat, and middle of breast white, all the 

 rest of head, neck, and lower plumage deep chestnut or chocolate- 

 brown ; scapulars and interscapulary tract, tertiaries, outer webs 

 of secondaries above, and upper surface of tail blue, generally with 

 a greenish tinge ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 brighter blue ; greater wing-coverts duller and darker blue, 

 median coverts black, lesser chestnut ; secondary quills except on 

 outer web above black ; ends of primaries, much longer on the 

 outer than the inner, black, basal portion white, with the outer 

 web above pale blue. 



Bill dark red, the margins brownish ; iris brown ; legs coral- 

 red {Oates). 



Length about 11; tail 3*3; wing 4'7; tarsus *65 ; bill from 

 gape 2-8. 



The Andaman birds were distinguished by Hume as H. satura- 

 tior on account of their deep coloration, the blue portion of the 

 plumage being a darker blue and the chestnut parts chocolate- 

 brown. The size too is rather large. But similarly coloured 

 individuals, though rare, may be found in India and Ceylon. 



Distribution. Throughout India, Burma, and Ceylon, except in 

 the Himalayas, into which this species only penetrates up to a 

 moderate elevation to the westward. It is generally rare or 

 wanting on the higher hills of the Peninsula, though Davison 

 obtained it on the Mlgiri plateau. Outside of India it ranges 

 throughout the Malay Peninsula, Cochin China, &c., to Southern 

 China, and westwards through Persia and Baluchistan to Asia 

 Minor and Cyprus. 



Habits, fyc. This, like Alcedo ispida and Ceryle varia, is a common 

 Indian bird, but its habits are very different from those of the 

 other two Kingfishers, for though it occasionally, but rarely, 

 catches fish by plunging after them, it lives chiefly on insects and 

 small lizards, and sometimes on mice or land-crabs. It has a 



