﻿Dr. Jerdon, in the "Birds of India," .says: — 



"This Indian Kingfisher, so nearly allied to the common European one, is spread 

 throughout the whole of India, Ce)don, the Indo-Chinese region, Malayans, and even 

 China. It is quite a diminutive of the European bird, and frequents rivers, brooks, tanks, 

 irrigated paddy-fields, and ditches by the road-side, perching on a tree or post, a stone, or 

 a telegraph wire. It dives obliquely on its prey, which consists of small fish, tadpoles, and 

 aquatic insects. It breeds in deep holes in banks of rivers; Buchanan Hamilton states 

 also in mud-walls, and that it lays six or seven pinkish-white round eggs. Layard remarks 

 that many are taken in Ceylon, by a net placed under water, for sale in China. I have seen 

 specimens in which there was a good deal of white on the head, back of neck, and back." 



I am indebted to many kind friends for original notes on this bird in India, and 

 amongst them Mr. G. F. L. Marshall has favoured me with the following: — 



''I have obtained Alcedo bengalensis in the Umballah district, the Ganges Dooab, Dehra 

 Doon, and the valley of the Jumna in the Himalayas; it is pretty common in all these 

 localities, but is confined to running water. I have never seen it near any still water-tanks 

 or jheels, nor perched in trees. It frequents the river-beds of the Doon and sub-Himalayan 

 valleys ; as far as the boulder formation extends, and the water is clear and rapid, it may 

 be seen perching on the stones or projecting rocks, and watching intently for its prey in 

 the eddies and shallows; lower down, where the slope of the country diminishes, and the 

 stony bed gives place to soft mud and drifting sand, and the clear blue rapids to broad 

 expanses of dark-coloured water heavily charged with silt, and wandering sluggishly 

 between interminably-shifting sand-banks, the little Kingfisher, unable to obtain an 

 adequate supply of food, betakes itself to the large canals which traverse the district — here 

 the falls of masonry, by creating barriers, form points of concentration for the fish, which 

 may be seen in shoals of all sizes, vainly endeavouring to force their way to the foot of the 

 weir. Thus they fall an easy prey to the watchful little bird, which takes up its position 

 on the projecting masonry pier. A pair of these birds live in this manner at each of the 

 falls, and I had ample opportunity of observing them. They are very fearless and tame, 

 and while engaged in fishing will permit themselves to be approached within eight or ten 

 feet, and I have sat for some minutes within that distance of one without attracting any 

 more attention than an occasional rapid glance of the eye in my direction. They never 

 hover, but dart from their perch, returning immediately. The natives call it the " Garur," 

 from some fancied resemblance to Vishnu's fabulous serpent-eating bird, mentioned in the 

 "Prem Sagur;" but I fancy that a closer study of their own mythology would induce them 

 to alter the name: it is worth remarking that they never confound this species with Halcyon 

 gmjfrnensis, the other common blue Kingfisher of those parts, which they call the "Gunpfik,'' 

 for they are essentially unobservant of nature and have but one name for Yunyijn'cus 

 hardwickii, Brachypternus aura?itius, and Upupa epops." 



" My brother. Captain C. Marshall, has also obtained this bird from Cashmere, and 

 the rivers below Murrce in the Punjab." 



My friend, the late Captain R. C. Beavan, gave me the following note: — 



4, This species, which is the representative of the common English Kingfisher in India, 

 is abundant about the neighbourhood of Calcutta, at Barrackpore — where the rice swamps 

 afford plenty of small fish, shrimps, etc., for its food It is much rarer about the 

 Maunbhoom district, and decidedly rare at Umballah, where I only procured one specimen, 

 in November, 18<><)." 



"In solitary places," writes Sir Emerson Tennent, in his well-known work on Ceylon, 

 "where no sound breaks the silence except the gurgle of the river as it sweeps round the 

 rocks, the lonely Kingfisher sits upon an overhanging branch, his turquoise plumage hardly 

 less intense in its lustre than the deep blue of the sky above him, and so intent is his watch 

 upon the passing fish that intrusion fails to scare him from his post — the emblem of vigilance 

 and patience." 



