﻿PELARGOPSIS AMAUROPTERA. 



(BROWN-SHOULDERED STORK-BILLED KINGFISHER). 



Halcyon amauroptera Pears. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1841, p. 635. 



Eamphalcyon amauroptera .... Keich. Handb. Alced. p. 17, t. cccclxxxi., fig. 3407 (1851). 

 Pelargopsis amauroptera Cab. and Heine, Mus. Hein. th. II, p. 157 (1860). 



P. rostro rubro : scapularibus brunneis. 

 Hab. in regione Indo-Malayana. 



Entire head, neck, and under-surface of the body yellowish cinnamon ; upper part of 

 the back, scapularies, and wing-coverts, chocolate-brown ; entire back and rump silvery- 

 cobalt ; quills chocolate-brown, the inner web light cinnamon at the base ; tail-coverts and 

 tail chocolate -brown, darker underneath ; bill and feet sealing-wax red. Total length 13.0 

 inches, of bill from front 3.0, from gape 3.5, wing 5.8, tail 4.0, tarsus 0.5, middle toe 1.0, 

 hind toe 0.5. 



Hab. Bengal (Sundurbuns especially); Arakan; Tenasserim provinces ; very abundant 

 along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, not yet observed on the western. Not rare 

 in the vicinity of Calcutta (Blyth), Assam (mus. H. B. Tristram). 



This abnormally-coloured Pelargopsis is one of the most clearly characterized of all the 

 species of Stork-billed Kingfishers, and cannot be confounded with any other member of the 

 family. Notwithstanding that the bird is not rare in the localities which it affects, there 

 are very few collections in Europe which possess specimens. Little is known of its habits 

 but they are doubtless similar to the other species of Pelargopsis. 



Mr. Jerdon gives us the following observations in the " Birds of India" : — 

 " This is a handsomely coloured species, the beautiful pale sky-blue contrasting so 

 effectively with the brown and sober tints of the rest of the plumage. It is only found 

 within our limits, in Bengal, being not rare about Calcutta, though more common in the 

 Sunderbuns, where I have frequently seen it ; and it is more abundant still to the East, in 

 Arrakan and Tenasserin. It does not appear to ascend rivers, in Bengal, far beyond the 

 reach of the tide. It is a noisy species, and has a very loud, harsh, and grating cry. It 

 feeds chiefly on fishes, making a violent plunge into the water." 



Additional references. — Halcyon amauroptera, Blyth, Ann. Nat. Hist, xii, p. 94 (1843) ; Gray, Gen. of B. I, 

 p. 79 (1846) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. Beng., p. 313 (1849) ; Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. I, p. 155 (1850) ; Cass. 

 Cat. Hale. Phil. Mus. p. 10 (1852); Horsf. and Moore. Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. I, p. 124 (1854) ; Jerdon, Birds of 

 Ind. I, p. 224 (1862) ; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 347. Bamphalcyon amauroptera, Bonap. Consp. Vol. Anis., p. 10 

 (1854). Pelargopsis amauroptera, Sharpe, P.Z.S., 1870, p. 



