136 ALCEDIKEDJE. 



Halcyon armstrongi (subspecies of H. chloris), Sharpe, t. c. p. 277, 



pi. vii, fig. 1. 



Halcyon vidali (subsp. of H. chloris), Sharpe, t. c. p. 278. 

 Halcyon humii (& H. davisoni, subsp.), Sharpe, t. c. p. 281, pi. viii. 



Fig. 38. Head of 8. chloris, $. 



Coloration. Crown, nape, and sides of head to below the eye 

 bluish green ; a white streak above the lores occasionally extending 

 back above the eye ; ear-coverts black in some varieties, and with 

 a black band round the nape, separated from the green of the 

 crown by an ill-defined white space (these black and white bands 

 are often entirely wanting) ; a broad white collar ; upper back 

 and scapulars dull bluish green to greenish blue; lower back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts bright blue ; upper surface of wings 

 and tail deeper blue, sometimes with a greenish tinge ; quills, 

 except on outer webs outside, black ; lower surface of tail the 

 same ; lower parts white, sometimes tinged with buff, especially 

 on the flanks. 



Upper mandible, tip and edge of lower mandible greenish 

 black ; rest of lower mandible pinkish white ; irides deep brown ; 

 legs plumbeous (Davison). 



Length 9-5; tail*2'75; wing 4; tarsus -6; bill from gape 2-3. 



Distribution. Though represented by a variety (H. abyssinica) in 

 the Red Sea, this Kingfisher has only been obtained in the Indian 

 Peninsula near Batnagiri ; it is, however, common in the Sundar- 

 bans and throughout the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, 

 more abundantly to the southward, in the Andaman Islands (it 

 appears to be replaced in the Nicobars by H. occipitalis\ and 

 throughout the Malay Archipelago to the Philippines and 

 Celebes. 



In the British Museum Catalogue Dr. Sharpe has divided this 

 type into several species and subspecies, all the Indian forms of 

 which appear to me to be races varying considerably amongst 

 themselves and passing into each other. These races are : 



H. chloris typical, from the Malay Archipelago, a greenish bird 

 with black ear- coverts and a well-marked black nuchal band. 



H. armstrongi : Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, North Borneo, 

 Burmese coast, and Sundarbans. Ear-coverts green, and generally 

 no black nuchal band. 



H. vidali, from Katnagiri, like H. armstrongi but greener. 



H. humii inhabits the Malay Peninsula with Southern Tenas- 



