172 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF INDIA. 



the overhanging, bluish green ear-coverts. The lores are 

 blackish ; the chin, throat, breast, sides of the neck, and a very- 

 broad collar behind the narrow black one, pure white, or in 

 some specimens very faintly tinged in places with buff. Abdo- 

 men, wing lining, axillaries, lower tail coverts white, typically 

 strongly tinged with bright buff. In some the tinge is much 

 paler, at times it is absolutely wanting. Interscapulary region^ 

 and all but the tips of the longest scapulars, a rather bright 

 bluish green. Middle of the back and rump a beautiful, almost 

 lazuline, blue. Lesser coverts along the ridge of the wing 

 almost unicolorous with the scapulars. Quills dark hair brown ; 

 the second to the fifth primaries, rich blue on the outer webs 

 above the emargination, the rest of the primaries and seconda- 

 ries the same color on the whole of the outer webs. The ter- 

 tiaries on their outer webs, and the tips of the longer secondaries, 

 intermediate in color between the scapulars and the secondaries. 

 The greater coverts much the same color as the quills, slightly 

 brighter and greener, and the median coverts slightly greener 

 still ; but the colors all blend into one another, and there is no 

 great difference in tint. The longer upper tail coverts and the 

 tail feathers are much the same color as the outer webs of the 

 secondaries, but rather duller. The inner webs of the lateral tail 

 feathers, in some lights, are browner and duller. 



The youngest birds we obtained only show a few crescentic 

 brownish black marks on the breast and white collar, but the 

 birds were only commencing to breed when we were collecting, 

 so that all our young birds are a year, or nearly a year old. 



Mr. Davison says : — " I found this species (in the Nicobars, 

 of course, to whicb/it is restricted), commencing to breed about 

 the latter end of February, but the only egg I obtained was 

 taken from the oviduct of a female which I shot on the 24th 

 February, just as it was entering its nest ; the egg was perfect, 

 and would no doubt have been laid in a few minutes. I found 

 three nests on the Island of Camorta, and all of them were 

 excavated in deserted ants' nests. These ants' nests are generally 

 placed against the trunks of very large trees, but occasionally 

 against those of the cocoanut palms at heights of from 4 to 20 

 feet from the ground, and vary from 12 to 30 inches in dia- 

 meter, being composed, as I believe, of some sort of clay ; they 

 are extremely hard and difficult to break. I had to dig out the 

 nests with a large clasp knife. It is in the larger ants' nests 

 that this kingfisher's nest holes are excavated. The tunnel, 

 about 2 or 2-* inches in diameter, is in the centre of the ants' 

 nest, and goes in for about 6 inches, where it terminates in a 



