﻿ALCEDO GRANDIS. 



(GREAT INDIAN KINGFISHER). 



Alcerfo yranchs Blyth, Joarn. As. Soc. Beng. XIV, p. 190 (1845) ; id. 



Cat. Birds Mus. As. Soc. Beng. p. 49 (1849) ; id. Ibis, 

 1865, pp. 30, 31, et 1866, pp. 348, 363 ; Gray, Hand- 

 list of B. p. 196 (1869). 



Alcedo euryzona Jerdon, Birds of India, I, p. 231 (1862, nec Temm.). 



A. torque pectorali nulla : abdomine cast meo : tectricibus alarum conspicue cyaneo apicatis : regione parotic-fi 

 nigra cyaneo notata : major : viridis : capite sparsim fasciis viridi-cyaneis transfasciato : scapularibus viridibus. 



Hah. in plaga Hiinalayana orientali. 



Head crested, black, with transverse bars of pale greenish cobalt, each bar having a little 

 streak of silvery white down the centre ; scapularies blackish washed with deep green ; 

 whole of the back rich silvery cobalt, deepest on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; vring- 

 coverts blackish washed with dark green, each feather having a small spot of silvery blue : 

 quills blackish, the inner web pale rufous at the base, the outer web of the secondaries edged 

 with dark greenish-blue ; tail dark indigo above, black beneath ; cheeks and ear-coverts black - 

 ish longitudinally streaked with silvery-cobalt; a very small loral spot, a longitudinal stripe 

 along the sides of the neck, and the throat, white tinged with yellow ; rest of the under- 

 surface of the body dark rufous; bill black; feet orange. Total length 8 inches, of bill 

 from front 1.7, from gape 2.2, wing 3.85, tail 1.65, tarsus 0.35, middle toe 0.65, hind 

 toe 0.3. 



Hah. Terai Darjeeling (Anderson). 



This truly magnificent species has as yet only been met with he the neighbourhood of 

 Darjeeling. It was first described by Mr. Blyth in 1845, and the type specimen is still in 

 the Calcutta Museum. Mr. Jerdon has certainly made a mistake in considering it to be the 

 young of A. euryzona, which was, moreover, described as a distinct species by Mr. Blyth 

 under the name of A. nigricans. It was hardly possible, therefore, that so acute an 

 observer would have separated A. grandis and not have united it to A. nigricans, if they had 

 both been the young of A. euryzona. Mr. Blyth has, however, himself written (/.'•■) in 

 defence of the species, and I can only state my full concurrence in his views. 



