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ALCEDO ISPIDA. 



(COMMON KINGFISHER.) 



AJcedo ispiia Linn. Syst. Nat. I, p. 179 (1766). 



Alcedo mbispida ..... Brehni, Yog. Deutschl. I, p. 149 (1831). 



Alcedo advena Brehm, Yog. Deutschl. I, p. 150, t. XI, fig. 2 (1831). 



Alcedo pallasii ...... Reich. Handb. Alced. p. 3, t. cccxcii, fig. 3043-44, t. cccxciii, 



figs. 3045-46 (1851). 



A. torque pectorali nuM : abdomine lajte castaneo : tectricibus alarum cyaneo conspicue terminatis : 

 regione parotica rufa : major : rostro brevi : supra viridi-cyanea : capite cyaneo fasciato. 



Hab. in regione Pakearctica. 



Male. Above blue, the base of the feathers being greyish-black; head crested, 

 barred with bright blue; upper part of the back and scapulars green; rest of the back, 

 rump and upper tail-coverts beautiful rich cobalt; wing- coverts green, the greater coverts 

 inclining to blue, distinctly spotted at the tip of each feather with bright bars of cobalt ; 

 quills blackish, pale rufous at the base of the inner web, the outer web broadly washed with 

 greenish blue; tail deep blue inclining to indigo above, black beneath; lores and 

 ear-coverts light chesnut ; cheeks blue ; throat, and a patch of feathers along the sides of 

 the neck white, slightly tinged with fulvous ; rest of the under surface of the body rich 

 chesnut with a patch of blue feathers on the sides of the upper part of the breast ; bill 

 black; feet red. Total length 7*5 inches, of bill from front 1*7, from gape 2"0, wing 2 - 9.'), 

 tail 15, tarsus 0*3, middle toe 0*55, hind toe 025. 



Female. Exactly similar to the male, but has the base of the lower mandible orange. 



Young. Similar to the adults, but has the bill shorter and more mixed Math orange, 

 and the feathers of the upper part of the breast edged with greyish and tinged with a slight 

 dusky-blue lustre. 



[By the kind permission of my friend Mr. H. E. Dresser, who is my colleague in the 

 forthcoming " History of the Birds of Europe," I have taken this account of the Kingfisher 

 from the MSS. prepared for the last-named work. Nor shall we regret this circumstance, as 

 although we have endeavoured to make the present account as complete as we can, it is 

 quite possible to make it more perfect, and I, therefore, appeal to all my friends who have 

 aided me in the present work to supplement as far as possible the details here given, so 

 that when the species has to be treated of in the " Birds of Kurope " the account may be 

 quite complete. R. B. S.] 



