Genus HALCYON. 



Bill differing from the last in having the culmen sharply keeled and curved slightly near the 

 tip, and the upper mandible suddenly compressed. Nostrils more oblique, less advanced ; gape less 

 angulated. Wings with the 2nd quill subequal to the 3rd. Tibia feathered in front to the knee. 



Of smaller size than Pelargopsis. 



HALCYON SMYENENSIS. 



(THE WHITE-BREASTED KINGFISHER.) 



Alcedo smyrnensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 181 (17G6). 



Halcyon smyrnensis, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii. p. 99 (1826) ; Sykes, P. Z. S. 1852, p. 84 ; Blyth, 



Cat. B. Mas. A. S. B. p. 47 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 118 (1852); Layard, 



Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 172; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. 



p. 125 (1854); Tristram, Ibis, 1866, p. 86; Sharpe, Mon. Alced. pi. 59 (1868-71); 



Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 424 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 105 (1873) ; Adam, Str. 



Feath. 1873, p. 372 ; Hume, ibid. 1874, p. 167; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 14. 

 Alcedo fusea, Bodd. Tab. PI. Enl. 54 (1783). 

 Halcyon ft sens (Bodd.), Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 224 ; G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds, i. p. 79 



(1849). 

 The Smyrna Kingfisher, Latham ; The Indian Kingfisher, Horsfield ; Blue Kingfisher, 



Europeans in Ceylon. 

 Kikila, Hind. ; Sade-huk match ranga, Beng. ; Lak muka, Tel. ; Vichuli, Tam. (Jerdon) ; 



Matsya-ranga, Sanscrit; Fei-tsuy, China (Swinh.). 

 J'clihuduwa, Sinhalese; Kalavi kuruvi, lit. "Wide-mouthed Bird," Ceylon Tamils (Layard). 



Idalt mali "I"! female. Length 10 - 8 to 11*1 inches j wing 4-4 to 4-f! ; tail 3 - 2 to 3 - 4 ; tarsus OS ; middle toe 0'7 to 

 0-75, daw (straight) - 37 ; bill to gape 2-5 to 2-7 ; depth at gonys-angle 4-9 to 5-7. 



Iris sepia-brown : bill deep arterial red; inside of mouth vermilion ; anterior portion of legs and feet dark brownish 

 red : posterior port inn and soles of feat orange-red ; claws blackish. 



Head, cheeks, back, -and sides of neck, sides of chest, and all the lower parts from the breast downwards with the under 

 wing-coverts deep chestnut-brown or reddish chocolate-colour, darkest on the head, hind neck, and sides of chest ; 

 back, scapulars, rump, upper tail-coverts, tail, secondaries, and basal portion of outer webs of all but the first 

 primary, when viewed against the light, turquoise-blue, brightest on the back, rump, and secondaries, and when 

 viewed with the light malachite-green ; tertials and margins of the tail-feathers with a decided greenish hue ; tirst 

 primary, terminal portion of the rest, tips of secondaries, and inner half of the inner webs blackish brown ; least 

 wing-coverts lighter chestnut than the head, the median secondary coverts coal-black ; shafts of tail-feathers 

 black ; a fine line just beneath the lower eyelid, chin, fore neck, centre of the chest, edge of the wing, and basal 

 portion of the inner webs of the primaries white, increasing on the latter towards the inner feather, on which it 

 approaches close to the tip. 



Some examples have a brownish wash on the forehead and crown, and, in fact, the chestnut portions of the plumage 

 are, as a rule, variable, some birds being darker in this respect than others. It is worthy of remark that if this 

 Kingfisher be held away from the light, the white dust assumes a greenish hue. 



Young. The nestling has the bill red at the base, paling to yellowish towards the tip, which is black. 

 The feathers of the head and hind neck are pale-tipped, mostly so on the forehead ; the least wing-coverts are tinged 

 with black. 



