ALCEDO BENGALENSIS. 



(LITTLE INDIAN KINGFISHER.) 



Alcedo bengalensis, Gra. Syst. Nat. i. p. 450 (1788) ; Kittl. Kupf. Vog. pi. 29 (1832) ; Sykes, 



P. Z. S. 1832, p. 84; Jerd. Madr. Journ. 1840, p. 231 ; Blyth. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 



p. 49 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 119 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 172 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. p. 129 (1854); 



Temra. & Schl. Faun. Jap. Av. pi. 38 (1850); Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 230 (1862); 



Sharpe, Mon. Alced. pi. 2, p. 11 (1868-71); Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 424; 



Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 107 (1873) ; id. Str. Feath. 1873, p. 168, et 1875, p. 173 ; 



Ball, ibid. p. 387 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 14 ; Oates, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 52 ; Butler, 



ibid. p. 456 ; Armstrong, ibid. 1876, p. 307 ; Inglis, ibid. 1877, p. 19. 

 Alcedo minor, Schl. Mus. P.-B. Alced. p. 7 (1863). 

 Alcedo japonic a, Bonap. Consp. Vol. Anis. p. 10 (1854). 

 The Little Blue Kingfisher of some ; The Common Indian Kingfisher, Jerdon ; " King of 



the Shrimps" China (Swinhoe). 

 Chota kilkila, Hind. ; Chota match-ranga, Beng. ; Nila buche gadu, Telugu ; Ung-chim-pho, 



Lepch. ; Gdrfm, natives in Himalayas ; To he-dng, lit. " Fishing Reverence," or " the 



old gentleman that fishes!" Chinese of Amoy (Swinhoe). 

 Mal-pcliliuduwa, lit. " Flower-Kingfisher," from its bright colours; also Diya pelihuduwa, 



Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female. Length 6*0 to 6*3 inches ; wing 2-" to 2-82 ; tail 1*2 to 1'4 ; tarsus - 3 to 04 ; middle toe and 

 claw 0*67 ; bill to gape 1-72 to 1*95, average length 1 - S. 



Iris deep brown ; bill, upper mandible blackish brown, lower yellow or reddish yellow ; legs and feet coral-red, claws 

 dusky. 



Some male specimens which I have shot, and which seem fully adult, have the under mandible black, from which it 

 appears that the coloration of this is uncertain. Mr. Armstrong notes it in some Irrawaddy examples as brownish 

 white. 



Basal portion of feathers of the head, hind neck, and a broad stripe leading from the lower mandible down the sides 

 of the neck blackish brown ; the terminal parts of these feathers, together with the tips of the wing-coverts, 

 French blue ; scapulars, ground-colour of the wing-coverts, outer webs of the quills, and the tail-feathers duller 

 blue ; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts bright cerulean blue (this colour becomes a shining green if held away 

 from the light) ; inner webs of the primaries and secondaries, and terminal portions of the latter, dark hair- 

 brown ; lateral feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts cobalt-blue. 



Lower part of loral region black ; upper part of the same, a broad streak passing over the ears, chest, and under 

 surface, with the under tail- and under wing-coverts orange-rufous ; chin, throat, and a continuation of the ear- 

 stripe white, the latter separated from the throat by the blue cheek- and side-neck stripe; bases of the un der- 

 su r face feathers white, imparting a non-uniform appearance to the plumage. 



Tou>i(/. Bill in some examples (males) with the under mandible black, like the upper, and tipped with whitish ; in a 

 female example which, from the green hue of the blue parts and the state of the organs, appears to be immature 

 it is yellowish. 



The distribution of the colours in the nestling is the same as in the adult, but the blue tints are greener than when 

 older. This greenish blue is an individual peculiarity, as some immature examples are quite as blue as old birds. 



Obs. This species is a small race of A. ispida, the European Kingfisher, differing from it in its proportionally longer 

 bill and much less bulky body, although it measures very nearly as much as the latter in the wing. Ceylonese and 



