ALCEDO BENGALENSIS. 293 



Indian specimens of A. lengalensis correspond very fairly in size, the balance perhaps being in favour of the 

 latter. The measurements of several from different parts of India, which I have examined in the British 

 Museum, are as follows : — (1) wing 2-95 inches, bill to gape P72 ; (2) wing 2-9, bill to gape 1-82 ; (3) wing 

 2-8, bill to gape 1-85 (Assam) ; (4) wing 2-85 (Kamptee). The dimensions of four specimens from the Irrawaddy 

 delta, recorded in ' Stray Eeathers,' are : — wing 2-75 to 2-8 inches, bill to gape T8 to 2-0, the latter measurement 

 exceeding any that I have note of from Ceylon. Mr. Sharpe, in his exhaustive article in the ' Monograph of the 

 Alcedinidse,' gives the wing of Central-Asian and Philippine birds as 2-9 inches ; and one I have examined from 

 Celebes measures 2-7, bill to gape 1-97, and very stout. Compared with the above dimensions, Mr. Sharpe notes 

 the average size of the wing in A. ispida as from 2-95 to 3-1. An example from Belgium, examined by myself 

 in the national collection, has the wing 2-95, and the bill to gape 1*6 ; another from England, wing 3 - 05, and 

 bill to gape 1-95. A Cairo specimen of A. beiigalensis has the wing 2-8, bill to gape 2-0, and is referred to 

 this species by Mr. Sharpe purely on account of its length of bill. In fact the two species grade into one 

 another at the north-west confines of India and throughout the west of Asia to the borders of Europe in such a 

 manner that it would be difficult, from a mere perusal of dimensions, to arrive at a proper identification ; typical 

 specimens of the Indian form are found far to the west and out of its usual habitat, but no typical examples of 

 the European form are found further within the habitat of A. bengalensis than Sindh. In this latter region 

 Mr. Hume considers the race to be an intermediate one, which averages as large as A. ispida, while the bills 

 are, as a rule, shorter than in either species. He also notes that the birds from the Andamans and Pegu have 

 very short bills. 



Distribution. — The present species inhabits the whole island of Ceylon, from the sea-coast to the level of 

 the Nuwara-Elliya plain. Wherever there is water, be it the tiny pond resorted to by buffaloes and wild 

 animals in the midst of a parched-np district, or the flooded paddy-field, the lonely tank or forest river, the 

 brackish lagoon, or even the rocky sea-shore, the Little Kingfisher is sure to be found. In the wet districts of 

 the west and south its numbers are greater than in the north and east, but nevertheless in these it congregates 

 in great numbers in those few spots where water is to be found. 



Every forest-lined river has its pair of Kingfishers at every quarter of a mile, which dwell in the out- 

 spreading branches of the Koombook and Mee-trees, and ever and anon plunge into the trickling stream beneath 

 them. It is common enough in the Central-Province valleys drained by the Mahawelliganga and its affluents, 

 but above 3500 feet becomes tolerably scarce. It finds its way to the Nuwara-Elliya lake up the streams from 

 the Fort-Macdonald patnas ; but I have not seen it on the streams between there and the Horton Plains, nor 

 on the source of the Maha Elliya in the plain itself, the rise through forest from Galagama of the latter 

 stream to the level of the plain (about 5600 feet) being top great for the explorations of the Little " Fisher." 



This bird is found all over India, being in nearly all parts the most numerous of its family in the 

 peninsula. It is not frequent in some of the hill-districts of the south, for I observe that neither 

 Mr. Bourdillon nor Mr. Pairbank met with it on the Travancore and Palani hills. It is, however, not 

 uncommon in the Nilghiris, and has been found nesting as high as Ootacamund. It is noted as being very 

 common in the Kandhala district and also in Chota Nagpur. Turning to the north-west we find it rare at the 

 Sambhur Lake, common at Mount Aboo and in the Guzerat plains, and very rare again in Sindh, where it is 

 replaced by a larger race as above noticed. It extends north of India into Central Asia and the Amoorland, 

 where Schrenk procured it ; and to the westward Mr. Sharpe notes it from Cairo, the Sinaitic peninsula, and 

 Nubia. Canon Tristram, however, only met with A. ispida in Palestine. To the east and south-east of 

 India it has an extensive range, being found in Burmah, Tenasserim, Malacca, the Andamans and Nicobars, 

 Java, Sumatra, Labuan, Borneo, and Celebes, extending northwards again to Formosa, the Loochoo Islands, 

 Eastern China, and Japan. Swinhoe received it from Hakodadi, Northern Japan, which is its most northerly 

 observed limit on the eastern bounds of Asia. The only locality in Sumatra from where I can find it recorded 

 is Lampong, on the south-east coast ; but when this vast island has been more explored it will doubtless be 

 found in its western portions. 



Habits. — This tame and watchful little bird passes the entire day in the constant search for its prey ; no 

 bird in Ceylon is more diligent in seeking for the means of existence than this pretty little Kingfisher, which 

 takes up its post on any object over water, and while calling to its mate, who is generally close at hand, 

 executes its curious little gesture of frequently jerking up its head with a combined similar movement of its 



