UHKA1 AFUICAN KlMlrKibiiEK. Ctryle maxima. 



The voice of the Belted Kingfisher is loud, dissonant, and startling, and has been 

 compared by Wilson to the sound produced by twirling a watchman's rattle. 



Mr. Thompson records two instances where the Belted Kingfisher has been seen and 

 shot in Ireland. One specimen was placed in the Museum of Trinity College, Dublin. 



ASIA presents us with a remarkably fine representative of the same genus in the 

 handsome SPOTTED KINGFISHEE, several specimens of which bird are to be found in the 

 British Museum. This magnificent bird, which is appropriately called by the natives 

 Muchee-bag, i.e. Fish-Tiger, is an inhabitant of India, where it seems to be confined to 

 the Himalayan district. 



In size it is but little inferior to the Great African Kingfisher, being one foot three 

 inches in length, and bearing a bill three inches long. The chest and sides of the neck of 

 the Fish-Tiger are of a beautiful greyish-white, which slightlv deepens into a very pale 

 fawn on the abdomen and the under tail-coverts. The remainder of the body is covered 

 with jetty-black plumage, relieved by numerous spots of pure white, and the head is 

 decorated with a large and noble-looking crest, composed of elongated feathers of the 

 same boldly contrasting hues. A few black spots form a curved line between the bill 



2. 



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