58 BIRDS OF DAMABA LAND. 



It Utters loud, sharp, and shrill cries, and is always 

 found either singly or in pairs. 



The irides in this species are claret-coloured, the bill 

 reddish brown on the upper mandible and orange-red 

 on the lower, the lores are dusky, the legs and toes 

 yellowish. 



[Mr. Sharpe, in his ' Monograph of the Alcedinidse,' loc. cit., 

 makes the following remarks on this species : — 



" All the examples of the present species from South Africa 

 are m^uch larger than those from West Africa and Abyssinia. 

 Strickland separated them under the name of Halcyon dama- 

 rensis on receipt of some specimens collected by Andersson. It 

 isj however, impossible to separate them specificaUy, as, taking the 

 Abyssinian bird as the type of the species, a regular series of 

 gradations is reached according as specimens from the different 

 parts of Western Africa are examined, those from Angola being 

 intermediate in size and nearly attaining the large form of H. 

 damarensis. 



" I therefore regard these races in a subspecific light only, as 

 in the case of the species of Corythornis." 



I have thought it best to follow the view taken by Mr. Sharpe 

 on this subject, and have accordingly used for this Kingfisher 

 the specific name which he has adopted. — Ed.J 



72. Alcedo semitorquata, Swains. Half-collared Kingfisher. 



Alcedo semitorquata, Layard's Cat. No. 105. 

 „ „ Sharpe's Alcedinidse, pi. 7. 



„ „ Sharpe's Cat. No. 48. 



[This Kingfisher is not mentioned in Mr. Andersson's MS. 

 notes, neither did I meet with any specimen of it in those 

 of his collections which I had the opportunity of examining ; 

 but Mr. R. B. Sharpe possesses a pair obtained on the Orange 

 River, which probably entitles this species to be included among 

 the birds of Namaqua Land. — Ed.] 



