1863.] MR. R. SWINHOE ON THE BIRDS OF CHINA. 269 



Ibis, 1863, p. 96). Its back is more barred with white, and it has 

 less rufous on the sides of the neck. 



CaPITONIDjE. 



56. Megal^ema virens, Bodd. 

 Bucco yrandis, Gmel. 



Inhabits wooded hills of Southern China, and the Himalayas. 1 

 have received specimens from the neighbourhood of Foochow, and 

 Captain Blakiston shot it on the 16th of March near Canton. 



Alcedinid^. 



57. Halcyon smyrnensis, L. 

 H.fuscus, Jerdon, Birds of India, i. p. 224. 



A common resident species from Canton to the River Yangtsze. 



58. Halcyon atricapilla, Gmel. 



H. pileata. Gray ex Bodd. ; Bp. Consp. Av. p. 155. 

 Also a resident species from Canton to the Yangtsze. 



59. Alcedo bengalensis, Gmelin. 



A. ispidioides. Lesson. 



Found throughout Eastern Asia to the Amoor, in Japan, and in 

 Formosa. In the female the plumage is not so brilliant ; but the 

 chief sexual distinction is her pale-yellowish-red under mandible, 

 which is always black, like the rest of the bill, in the male and young 

 bird. This I have found a constant character in the Chinese bird, 

 but I do not see it remarked in Jerdon's account of this species, nor 

 yet in v. Schrenck's 'Amurland.' The bill of the young bird is 

 tipped paler ; its breast is washed with a dingy bluish grey, almost 

 black in some individuals ; the rufous has only a slight admixture 

 of yellow ; and the upper plumage is paler and dingier. I suspect 

 that the mandibular distinction of the female will also be found to 

 hold good in the European Alcedo ispida, L., and I would call the 

 attention of British ornithologists to the fact. 



60. Ceryle rudis, L. 



Found about all rivers in South China from Canton to Foochow ; 

 does not extend so far north as Shanghai. The males carry two 

 bands across the breast. In very mature males the throat and under- 

 neck are spotted thickly with round black spots. In spots and par- 

 ticular markings my specimens vary a good deal. 



CoraciidjE. 



61. eurystomus orientalis, l. 



A summer visitant to Southern China ; procured at Canton and 

 Foochow. At the latter port a male used to perch for the greater 

 part of the hot spring days on the top of a flagstaff, whence it 



