﻿There can be no question that the name of Alcedo asiatica of Swainson is the proper 

 one to be employed for the present bird, and I am glad to see that Mr. Gray in his " Hand- 

 list " concurs in this rectification which was first proposed by me (I.e.). When at 

 Cambridge I looked over the Kingfishers in the Swainson collection and there discovered 

 the type of his Alcedo asiatica, which is said to be from Java, collected by Dr. Horsfield, 

 and is doubtless one out of the series from which the latter described his A. meninting. 

 Ornithologists have invariably accorded precedence to the latter name, but by reference to 

 the dates given above it will be seen that Swainson's name has priority. 



The Alcedo Verreauxi of M. de la Berge is nothing more than the female of the present 

 species. The rufous cheeks and orange lower mandible, which are supposed by the 

 describer to be specific distinctions, are simply the characteristics of the female Alcedo 

 asiatica. I have examined several carefully sexed specimens brought home by Mr. Wallace, 

 as well as several others in the Leiden Museum collected by von Rosenberg, and have 

 ascertained this fact to a certainty. The young males at first resemble the old females, but 

 gradually assume the blue on the cheeks and ear-coverts and get the bill black. M. de la 

 Berge also lays stress on the smaller size of the Bornean bird in favour of its specific 

 separation. I have examined a great many specimens from different parts of Borneo, and 

 find that they run generally a little smaller than those from Celebes or Java, but I know 

 no Kingfisher that varies more in general size than the present species, and I have seen 

 many specimens from Java fully as small as any from Borneo, so that no reliance 

 can be placed on this as a specific character. Excepting a slight difference in size 

 specimens from all countries are very similar, with the exception of those from Eastern 

 India and Cochin China, which present some difference in coloration, being of a brighter 

 blue above and deeper red underneath than specimens from other localities. The inclusion 

 of the bird in the ' Indian' Avi-fauna henceforth rests upon the authority of a bird in 

 Lord Walden's collection collected by the late Captain Beavan and bearing the label 

 " Maunbhoom February, 1865." Captain Beavan identified this specimen as Alcedo 

 bengalensis, but it is clearly not that species as it has red on the cheeks, a sure sign of A. asiatica. 



I subjoin the comparative measurements of a series of specimens. 



No. 



Sex. 



Name. 



Locality. 



Authority. 



Long tot. 



Rostr. 



AL 



1. 



8 



A. asiatica. 



Lombock. 



"Wallace. 



60 



1-4 



2-5 



2. 



8 



a 



Malacca. 



Wallace. 



55 



1-45 



2o 



3. 



8 



it 



Malacca. 



Wallace. 



5-5 



1-5 



2-6 



4. 



P 



it 



Macassar. 



Wallace. 



6-3 



1-4 



25 



5. 





>) 



West Java. 



Wallace. 



56 



1-4 



2<5 



6. 





it . 



Java. 



Horsfield. 



59 



1-5 



26 



7. 





it 



Java. 



Horsfield. 



5-7 



1-2 



2-5 



8. 



? 



n 



Java. 



Mus. Lugd. 



60 



1-7 



28 



9. 





ii 



Bomoo. 



Mus. E.B.S. 



5-3 



1-4 



245 



10. 



8 



a 



Borneo. 



Mus. Lugd. 



5.2 



1-6 



25 



11. 





tt 



Labuan. 



Motley. 



60 



1-5 



24 



12. 



8 



y> 



Cochin-China. 



Mus. E.B.S. 



60 



1-8 



2-8 



But little has been recorded of the habits of the Malayan Kingfisher, which, however, 

 are doubtless those of a true Kingfisher. Mr. Blyth informs me, however, that it replaces 

 on the coast Alcedo beixjalemis of the interior. 



The figures in the accompanying plate represent a male and female collected by 

 Mr. Wallace during his expedition to the Malay Archipelago, the former being from 

 Lombock in Lord Walden's collection, the latter from Macassar in my own cabinet. The 

 former of these two birds has been made the subject of the detailed description of the species 

 given in the present article. 



