168 ContrUmtiom to the Ornltliology of India, 8fc. 



As mig-ht be expected they are typical indlca IdivcIs witliout the 

 sljo-litest leaning- towards affiiiis such as is so g-enerally notice- 

 able ill specimeiig from the Terai below Darjeeling' and Eastern 

 Beng"al g-eiierally. 



125.— Coracias garrula, L. 



Like 3leroj)s agjiptlus, this appears to be only a hot and rainy 

 season visitant. I procured no specimens, but Mr. James, c. rS., 

 has recently forwarded to me a fine adult killed during- the sum- 

 mer. I may here mention that in g"oing throug'h a small collec- 

 tion of birds made during the last rains at Mooltan by Mr. T. 

 Cox, c. E., I found no less than six specimens of this species, 

 which tbere, as indlea elsewhere, greatly affects the telegraph 

 wires. From Peshawur and near Attock I have also had speci- 

 mens procured during the summer. I have shot numerous speei- 

 metis near Simla, and Captain Gr, F. L. Marshall kindly sent 

 me one obtained at Nynee Tal, which as Hodgson did not meet 

 with it in Nepal is probably its Eastern limit in India. 



129.— Halcyon smyrnensis, L. 



This king-fisher is pretty abundant in Sindh and is met with 

 every where alike on the great rivers, canals, streams, ponds, 

 and lakes. 



134.— Alcedo bengalensis, Gm, 



I only obtained a single specimen of this smaller Indian race, 

 in Sindh, and that was from the east of the Indus in the Eoree 

 district. If it occurs at all west of the Indus, where it is 

 replaced by the next species, it will only be, I apprehend, as a 

 mere straggler. It is curious that the only Alcedo seen at Mus- 

 cat, was the present and not the next species. 



134 ^er.— Alcedo ispida, L. 



If I were disposed to manufticture new species, I should cer- 

 tainly christen the small Sindh king-fisher Alcedo Sindiana ; as 

 it is, I consider it a most interesting link between Ispida and 

 Bengalensis, differing only from the English bird with which 

 I have compared it by the comparative shortness of the bill, 

 and in this respect corresponding more nearly with the king- 

 fisher of Greece and the Holy Land. In size this bird is so 

 conspicuously larger than the common beugaleiisis, that the differ- 

 ence cannot fail to strike the most casual observer, and this 

 coupled with the much shorter bill compels me to identify it 

 witli ispida rather than hengalerisis. I shot and preserved a con- 



