SAUEOPATIS. 135 



Length about 10-25 ; tail 2-6 ; wing 4-3 ; tarsus -65 ; bill 

 from gape 2'5. 



Skins from the base of the Himalayas and from Burma, even 

 from Tenasserim, are paler above and below, and much less 

 suffused with violet gloss than Andaman specimens, and the 

 latter are rather larger. The difference appears greater than in 

 the case of H. smyrnensis and the variety H. saturatior. Andaman 

 birds resemble those from the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago 

 (true H. lilacina). Indo-Burmese birds are more like Japanese 

 (H. schlegeli). 



The specific name coromanda, although the oldest, cannot be 

 applied to a bird that is not found in the Peninsula of India. 



Distribution. Lower Himalayas up to about 5000 feet, in East- 

 ern Nepal, Sikhim, and farther East; Assamese and Burmese 

 countries, generally distributed but rare ; also the Andaman and 

 Nicobar Islands, Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, 

 the Philippines, Eastern China, and Japan. 



Habits, <$fc. A shy bird, generally found in forests and* not un- 

 frequently near the coast in mangrove-swamps. 



Genus SAUROPATIS, Cab., 1860. 



Bill shorter and broader than in Halcyon, and black not red, 

 above at all events ; lower mandible much more curved upwards. 

 Plumage marked by a prevalence of bluish green or greenish blue. 

 Sexes alike. This group is chiefly found in the Malay Archipelago, 

 Australia, and Polynesia, but two species come within our limits. 



Key to the Species. 



Crown not surrounded by a buff or white band . . 8. chloris, p. 135. 

 Crown surrounded by a buff band inside a black 



one S. occipitalis, p. 137. 



1047. Sauropatis chloris. The White-collared Kingfisher. 



Alcedo chloria, Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl p. 49 (1783). 



Alcedo collaris, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun. Insub. ii, p. 90 (1786). 



Todirhamphus collaris, Blyth, Cat. p. 48 ; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 228 ; 



Walden, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 554 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 221 j Beavan, 



Ibis, 1867, p. 319 ; 1869, p. 409. 

 Halcyon collaris, Horsf. $ M. Cat. p. 127. 

 Sauropatis chloris, Cab. # Heine, Mus. Hein. pt. 2, p. 160 ; Walden, 



Ibis, 1873, p. 302 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 71 ; Salvadori, 



Ann. MILS. Civ. Gen. (2), vii, p. 433. 

 Halcyon chloris, Sharpe, Mon. Ale. p. 229, pi. 87 ; Ball, 8. F. i, 



p. 58 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 451 ; ii, p. 170 ; vii, p. 168 ; id. Cat. 



no. 132 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 306 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, 



p. 78 ; Tidal, S. F. viii, p. 414 ; ix, p. 50 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 85 ; 



Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 100 ; Davison, Ibis, 1885, p. 332 ; Sharpe, 



Cat. B. xvii, p. 273, pi. vii, fig. 3. 



