12 AVES. 



Length of bill, from gape, 1^ inch. 



„ of bill, from front, 1 inch 2 lines. 



„ of wings, 7\ inches. 



„ of tail, 4 inches. 



„ of tarsus, 7^ lines. 



„ of middle toe and claw, 1 inch 2 lines. 



„ of outer toe, 1 inch; inner toe, 10 lines. 



„ of hallux, 7^ lines. 



This bird does not exactly correspond with the descriptions 

 given of the Eurystomus Pacificus, of which species, however, 

 we believe it to be a variety ; the light band on the wing in 

 our bird extends over eight of the primaries instead of six, and 

 there are other slight diflferences of plumage, which are, how- 

 ever, probably to be accounted for by difference of age or sex. 



It is a most active and lively bird, haunting very tall 

 jungle in parties of five or six together ; these fly rapidly in 

 large circles with short quick strokes of the wing, like the 

 flight of Woodpeckers, and frequently swooping down upon 

 one another with loud chattering. When perched, their note 

 is a single full deep-toned whistle, or something between that 

 and the sound of the word " you," when spoken with forcible 

 expulsion of breath from the throat ; the Malays say that 

 their nests are bottle-shaped and suspended from a high 

 branch. The stomach of the bird from which the above de- 

 scription is given was full of the remains of beetles ; the flock 

 from which it was obtained did not show any fear at the 

 report of the gun, as they did not attempt to leave the neigh- 

 bourhood, though, from the great height of the trees, five shots 

 were fired at them before one was brought down. 



Family Alcedinidae. 

 Sub-fam. Halcyoninae. 

 Gen. Halcyon. 



Halcyon Chloris. 



Alcedo chlorocephala (Gmel.). 



Green-headed King-fisher (Latham). 



Above, back sea-green ; tail-covers blue or green, varying accord- 

 ing to the light ; crown of the head sea-green, bordered with a black 

 stripe which originates at the gape, passes broadly round the eyes 

 and ears, and narrows at the nape ; the green feathers on the nape 

 adjoining this stripe are white at their base ; a broad collar of white 

 passes from below round the upper neck. 



