﻿prove that A. bengalensis is only a small variety of A. ispida. He then proceeds: — 



" Kittlitz states particularly that A. bengalensis, as observed by him at Luzon, agreed 

 precisely in habits with A. ispida. Nor could we observe any difference in those we 

 observed in Amoor Land, either in note, flight, or choice of* abode from A . ispida. * * * 

 Having identified A. ispida with A. bengalensis, and having found the latter on the Amoor, 

 we largely increase its geographical range. Instead of the former boundary to the east we 

 can follow it down to the eastern end of the old World, and southwards through India 

 and China to the Philippine and the Japanese Islands, northwards through Siberia and the 

 Amoor to the Sea of Ochotsk. In Siberia it was observed by Gmelin and Messerschmidt 

 only on the Torn, by Pallas on the Jenessei, but not further east. As we saw many on 

 the Upper and Lower Amoor, it is probable that it extends from Jenessei to the Trans- 

 Baikal region. 



" In the Amoor Country the extended willow thickets bordering the stream along its 

 various branches, and on the islands, offer the best localities for breeding and procuring 

 food. As in these wilds the noise of the oars does not directly frighten it away, it is 

 often easily surprised by the boat. Particularly in the wet rainy summer of 1856, when 

 the river Amoor was very high, and when great numbers of the willows hung over the 

 water or had their roots submerged, I observed the Kingfisher plentifully from June to 

 September, from the village of Yrri, on the lower Amoor, to Albasin on the upper part of 

 the stream. * * * In fact, we observed it all over the Amoor to its mouth." 



Herr Radde supplies some additional notes, as follows : — 



" Herr L. von Schrenk has already treated very fully of the Siberian bird, and shewn 

 its identity with the Bengalese variety of A. ispida. It only remains for me, therefore, to 

 say something of my own specimens. I must state that in the Trans-Baikal region, as also 

 on Lake Baikal, the Kingfisher is not rare, and thus confirms von Shrenk's supposition that 

 it would be found to inhabit the country between Jenessei and Amoor Land. I observed it 

 pretty often on the Central Onon, particularly at the fork of the river where the stream flows 

 slowly. Here it was living at the end of September, notwithstanding that during the 

 night ice was formed an inch thick on the water. A female was also killed on the 17th 

 of May, 1858, on the Bureja Mountains." 



I give Dr. von Schrenk every credit for the pains he has taken, but I venture to suggest 

 that the specimens measured by him from Persia, &c, were indeed A. bengalensis and not 

 true A. ispida. It is true I have never seen specimens from the exact localities, but I 

 have seen a Central Asiatic specimen from the vicinity of Bokhara, and it was undoubtedly 

 true A. bengalensu. It seems probable that the only specimen of true A. ispida examined 

 by the worthy doctor was the German specimen of which he adduces the detailed measure- 

 ments, and which at once give him the characters of a larger size but smaller beak. I 

 must further remind Dr. von Schrenk that Kingfishers, especially those of the genus Aired' >, 

 are a considerable time in gaining their adult size and plumage, and that it is therefore, 

 hardly fair to compare young birds of one species with old birds of another in the same 

 tabular diagram. 



Professor Reichenbach has separated Alcedo bengalensu into two races, which he calls 

 respectively A. indica, from the continent of India and the Tenasserim provinces, and A. 

 soridaica, from Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Malacca, and Ceylon. These races are supposed to 

 present differences in size, but scarcely any evidence to this effect is brought forward. I 

 may state that in preparing the present article I have carefully examined more than one hun- 

 dred specimens of the present species, with the following result. Taking the Indian bird as 

 the normal form, I do not find any positive distinction between it and the Chinese or Japa- 

 nese bird (A. japonica, Bp.), although the latter does appear to be somewhat more green in 

 tint than those from the continent of Asia. I have, however, not examined a sufficiently 

 large series to be quite sure on this point, while Dr. von Schrenk plainly states that there is 

 no difference. I cannot, moreover, find that the bird from the Indo-Malayun sub-region is 



