ALCEDiNIN^. 233 



The Pied Kingfisher. 



Deser. — Head and ears black, white-streaked, with also a white 

 supercilium ; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and wings, black, 

 white-edged ; lower parts, and the sides of the neck, white, 

 with a streak of black down the side of the neck from the 

 ear-coverts; breast with a broad interrupted band of black 

 in both sexes, and below this another complete but narrow 

 band, in the male only ; wings with a white band, formed by 

 the bases of some of the quills, and the greater coverts ; primary- 

 coverts and winglet black ; tail white at the base, broadly 

 black at the end, and tipped white. 



Bill black ; legs brown ; irides dark brown. 



Length 11 inches ; extent 19 ; wing 5^ ; tail 3, 1 inch or 

 more longer than the wing ; bill at front 2^^ ; tarsus | ; weight 3 oz. 



Mr. Strickland separated the Indian bird from rudis, stating 

 that it had more white on the upper parts ; but it is not generally 

 allowed to be distinct. Indeed his varia appears to have been 

 founded on a newly-moulted specimen, as contrasted with one 

 having worn and abraded plumage. 



This spotted Kingfisher is found over all India, Burmah, 

 andMalayana ; also Western Asia, Africa, and the south of Europe 

 occasionally. It is very common and abundant on the banks of 

 rivers, backwaters, and canals ; also on the edges of tanks, and 

 even of pools and ditches by the road side. Unlike the other King- 

 fishers, which watch for their prey from a fixed station, and then 

 dart down obliquely on it, this one searches for its prey on the 

 wing, every now and then hovering over a piece of water, and, on 

 spying a fish, darting down perpendicularly on it, and rarely failing 

 in its aim. Now and then, during its descent, it is baulked, and 

 turns off from its swoop ; but I never saw one plunge into the 

 water and return without its prey. I cannot say that I have 

 observed it stay so long under water as Pearson would imply, 

 when he states that ' it plunges down, dead as a stone, into the water, 

 and remains below it so long, that the ripple over; the surface 

 clears away some time before it comes up again.' Sundevall notices 

 its holding its tail erect when sitting. It makes its nest in holes in 

 banks of rivers. 



2 G 



