168 BLACK-AND-WHITE KINGFISHER. 



Mr. Swinhoe also, in his very interesting paper on 

 the Ornithology of Amoy, ("Ibis," vol. ii, p. 49,) says 

 that it is "very common on the river, where it is to 

 be found at all seasons; it poises on the wing at a 

 height above the water, and drops suddenly down to 

 catch its prey. I have however seen it strike obliquely, 

 when flying close to the surface of the water." 



Like other Kingfishers this bird makes a nest in the 

 holes of banks of rivers, and lays four or five eggs, 

 which are white, glossy, and nearly round. 



The plumage of the Black-and- White Kingfisher is 

 very difficult to describe minutely, as almost each 

 feather, as Swainson remarks, is varied in a different 

 manner. 



The male in breeding plumage has the crown of the 

 head and its crest black, with longitudinal streaks of 

 white; all the rest of the upper parts are a mottled 

 black and white; primaries and tail black and white; 

 the white line which springs from each nostril is 

 "carried over the eye and ears, and is lost in the 

 variegated feathers of the crest." All the under parts 

 are pure glossy white, with a broad belt of deep glossy 

 black across the chest, narrowed or interrupted in the 

 centre; the flanks thinly striped with black. The iris, 

 beak, and feet black. 



According to Degland the female is rather less, has 

 more white in the plumage, the black collar less 

 extended, and sometimes there is a second, which may 

 probably have caused Swainson to describe the Senegal 

 species as distinct. He certainly gives no separate 

 distinction of the sexes. 



Before the first moult, the white of the upper parts 

 is less pure, with a number of black dashes; the 

 black collar on the chest is only faintly indicated by 



