﻿ISPIDINA LEUCOGASTKA. 



(WHITE-BREASTED KINGFISHER.) 



Halcyon levxogaster, .... Fraser, P. Z. S. 1846, p. 4. 



Alcedo leucogaster, ..... Kaup, Verh. Nat. Ver. Darmst. 1848, p. 75. 



Alcedo leucogastra, ..... Gray, Cat. Fiss. Brit. Mus. p. 64 (1848). 



Corythornis leucogastra, .... Bonap. Consp. Vol. Anis. p. 10 (1854). 



Ispidina leucogastra, .... Eeieh. Handb. Alced. p. 6, t. cccxcv, fig. 3056 (1851). 



I. dorso lsete ultramarino : pileo nigro, ultramarino fasciato : abdomine albo. 

 Hab. in Africa occidentali. 



Head black, banded with ultramarine ; back and scapularies rich ultramarine ; wing- 

 feathers blackish, the inner web light rufous from the base, the exterior web of the 

 secundaries faintly edged with ultramarine; tail ultramarine above, black beneath; a 

 patch of feathers in front of the eye extending backwards over the eye, cheeks, ear- coverts 

 and sides of the neck bright rufous ; a patch of feathers along the side of the neck v throat 

 and middle of the body white ; sides of the body and under wing-coverts bright rufous ; 

 bill sealing-wax red ; feet red. Total length 5 inches, of bill from front 1.4, from gape 1.7, 

 wing 2.4, tail 1.0, tarsus 0.3, middle toe 0.45, hind toe 0.2. 



Hab. Fernando Po {Fraser), Gaboon (Du Chaittu, Verreaux), Ashantee (mus. R. B. 

 Sharpe) Gold Coast (mus. Lugd.), Sierra Leone (mus. J. Gould). 



This is the largest of the Ispidina?, and from its more compressed bill and piscivorous 

 habits, seems to approach the genus Alcedo. Mr. Louis Fraser, whose name is well known 



Additional references. — Halcyon leucogaster, Allen and Thomps. Exp. Nig. II, p. 503 (1848), Gray, Gen. 

 of Birds, I, p. 79 (c. 1844). Alcedo leucoqaster, Kaup, Fam. Alced. p. 13 (1848), Fraser, Zool. Typ. pi. 32 

 (1849), Strickl. Contr. toOrn. 1851, p. 134, Jard. Mem. of Strickl. p. 331 (1858), Schl. Mus. Pays Bas, Alced. p. 

 15 (1863). Alcedo leucogastra, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. I, p. 159 (1850), Verr. Eev. Zool. 1851, p. 268, Hartl. 

 Journ. f. Orn. 1854, p. 4, Mull. Journ. f. Orn. 1855, p. 9, Hartl. Orn. West Afr. p. 35 (1857), Cass. Proc. Philad. 

 Acad. 1857, p. 37, Du Chaillu, Eq. Afr. p. 472 (1861). Ispidina leucogastra, Cass. Cat. Hale. Phil. Mus. p. 13 (1852). 



