452 AcJieen, 



to an almost incredible extent. I at one time thouglit that this 

 was a sign of age, but I subsequently procured quite young birds 

 with the whole breasts narrowly barred with greyish black, which 

 had the bills as much worn away as any adult, and I am inclin- 

 ed now to believe that this attrition of the bill depends rather 

 upon the food. Some birds subsist more upon shell-fish which 

 they may be seen hammering to pieces with such vigor that it 

 is wonderful that they have any bills left at all, while others 

 again, which either temporarily or permanently live rather in- 

 land than exactly on the sea-coast, feed principally on huge centi- 

 pedes and little lizards. 



I mentioned above that the Acheen birds were decidedly 

 larger than those from the Andamans and Cocos, and as the 

 birds were all carefully measured in the flesh (13 of both sexes 

 from the latter and 9 from the former), the subjoined dimensions 

 which clearly exhibit this fact are not without interest : 



Tail 

 Length. Expanse. Wings, (from vent.) 



Andaman & Gocos 9 to 10 13-82 to 14-75 3-9 to 4-25 2-75 to 3-1 

 Acteen 9-5 to 10-25 15-5 to 16-25 4-25 to 4-5 3 to 3-4 



Mr. Davison remarks, " I do not think that I saw this king- 

 fisher on the river going up to the town where the Sultan resides; 

 but the country lying on either side was low, and intersected with 

 numerous creeks of brackish water, fi'inged with the dunny 

 palm, and in many places thickly cropped with paddy ; in these 

 localities, and in the immediate vicinity of the villages which 

 are sparingly scattered about, I found the white-collared king- 

 fisher exceedingly abundant, more so than it was in the Anda- 

 mans, but not so numerous as its congener II. occipitalis is at 

 the Nicobars. I find I have dotted down a note to the effect that 

 the Acheen bird appeared to me to be very much more noisy 

 than the same species at the Andamans — three or four would get 

 together on the same branch, partially spread and lower their 

 wings and commence a regular squealing concert which they 

 would continue for a minute or so, when one would fly off" to 

 another tree, (followed in succession by the others) where they 

 would again go through the same performance. 



One day I had shot a white-collared kingfisher on a tree 

 standing close to a village, (and of course as usual when I hap- 

 pened to be near any houses, I was accompanied by about a score 

 of boys and men) ; the bird however instead of dropping to the 

 ground only dropped a few feet and remained suspended by the 

 neck in a small fork about fifteen or twenty feet from the ground. 

 As none of the natives around me would climb the tree, I divested 

 myself of powder and shot flask and hat and commenced ascend- 



