﻿bird, viz., Alcedo capensis of Linnaeus, inasmuch as this name is founded on the " Ispida 

 capitis bonce spei" of Brisson, and if perpetuated could only lend additional confusion as to 

 the correct locality of the species. 



The present bird is nearly allied to the Bornean P. leucocephala ; but this latter species, 

 so far as I can at present determine, never puts on a cap, which is always more or less dis- 

 tinct in the Javan bird. In addition to this character, P. fraseri is always much more green 

 in tint. 



It is very seldom that we meet with a specimen of P. Fraseri with anything like a 

 distinct cap. Mr. Wallace's collection, however, contains a specimen obtained by himself 

 in Eastern Java which has the cap very distinct, like the bird figured by Professor 

 Reichenbach (/. c. ). The species, however, differs from P. burnianica by always having an 

 admixture of ochre, sometimes very strongly marked in the feathers of the head. 



The following account of the bird's habits is from the pen of the Vicomte de Bocarme 

 and is published by Professor Schlegel (Mus. Pays Bas, Alced., p. 13) : — 



" The Javan chiefs have ordinarily, within the limits of their principal residence, 

 ponds filled with divers species of choice fish, to which are thrown daily nests full of the 

 chrysalides of ants. These nests are combs of a light paste which swim on the top of the 

 water and offer to the fish a very delicate morsel. They come immediately these are 

 thrown in, and by the means of suction they very soon extract the chrysalides and larvae 

 which the holes contain. This great Kingfisher does not forget to visit these ponds, which 

 he succeeds in depopulating entirely. He creates much more terror than the Otter (Lutra 

 leptonyx), for a dog on guard keeps the latter away, but the bird appears each time that 

 Morpheus holds his reign, that is to say very often. He also frequents rivers and marshes. 

 Besides fish, he devours greedily the heaps of eggs that the fishermen lay in an oval lump 

 of eight or ten lines in diameter, surrounded with pieces of grass ; a dish that the Javans 

 themselves do not despise." 



On the plate is figured a Sumatran specimen obtained by Mr. Wallace in that island, 

 while the right-hand figure represents a Javan specimen preserved by Dr. Horsfield, and 

 now in the Cambridge Museum. 



The Sumatran race of P. fraseri is much smaller, the blues slightly more intense, but 

 the bird appears to be not specifically separable. 



