KINGSPISHER. 13 



the Cape Species ; and it is not unlikely to prove the same sort, 

 mentioned to have been seen in drawings from India, in the last 

 paragraph relating to that bird ; 



5— GREAT AFRICAN KINGSFISHER. 



Alcedo maxima, Ind. Orn. i. 246. G?n. Lin. i. 455. Pall. Spic. vi. p. 14. Bor. 



Nat.iu 144. 

 A Fowl frequenting the Rivers, Bosm. Guinea 251. pi. p. 262. 

 Great African Kingsfisher, Gen. Syn. ii. 611. Shaw's Zool. viii. p. 55. 



SIZE of a Crow. The bill large, strong, compressed, and black ; 

 the upper mandible longer; feathers of the head and nape elongated 

 into a small crest ; the upper parts of the body deep lead-colour, the 

 under ferruginous ; crown of the head and wings darker than the 

 rest, as is the middle of each feather in general ; the plumage 

 marked with numerous spots of white, every feather having five spots ; 

 viz : two on each side, and one at the tip ; on the sides of the neck 

 a stripe, dotted with white, beginning at the cheeks, and descending 

 obliquely down the neck ; chin white ; throat and fore part of the 

 neck black ; the rest of the under parts pale ferruginous, and in some 

 birds, deep sanguineous ; quills black, tipped with white, with a 

 series of white spots on each side ; those on the inner web placed 

 transverse ; the wings, when closed, reach beyond the middle of the 

 tail, which is even at the end, and marked as the quills ; legs deep 

 black, the outer toe connected to the middle one only halfway. 



The female differs, in having the throat, and half the neck pale 

 ferruginous, instead of black ; the rest of the under parts white, 

 transversely marked with narrow lines of black. 



Inhabits Africa. — Dr. Pallas says, that he has seen many of them, 

 all of which have been brought from the Cape of Good Hope. 



