﻿I have followed Professor Schlegel in referring Scopoli's name albiventris, which has 

 been generally considered by Ornithologists to be a synonym of the present species, to the 

 African Brown-hooded Kingfisher (Halcyon fuscicapilla) . For, as Professor Schlegel 

 remarks, Sonnerat described many African species, even the Secretary, as coming from 

 the Phillipine Islands. It will, moreover, be seen by reference to Sonnerat's original 

 description and figure,* and to the description by Scopoli, b that the bird represented by 

 them has a brown head and back, a whitish inark before the eye, and each of the breast 

 feathers marked with a central line of brown ; characters which it will be seen by a glance 

 at the figure in the plate opposite, are totally inapplicable to the present species. All 

 these points, however, are characteristic of the African bird. 



The geographical range of H. pileata is rather extended. Mr. Blyth (/. c.) gives its 

 habitat as " Eastern side of the Bay of Bengal; rare on the western ; Bengal Sundarbans ; 

 Malayan Peninsula and Archipelago ; China." In the latter country, Mr. Swinlioe says, c 

 it is a resident species from Canton to the Yangtze, but rare in the neighbourhood of 

 Amoy. d The Chinese use the feathers for manufacturing fans, as do also the Siamese, 

 according to Sir Robert Schombunjk. 



The Black -winged Kingfisher was also met with at Hong-Kong by the Xovara 

 Expedition. Herr Von Pelzeln, to whom we are indebted for a scientific account of the 

 results of this Expedition, has published ( I. c.) the following note by Herr Zelebor: — 

 "It was met with on the 10th of July at Shek-Pei-Wen in a small clump of trees, in 

 which was a spring. The cry of this bird was like that of the European Great Spotted 

 Woodpecker." 



Captain Briggs forwarded some specimens of the present bird to Sir. Gould, 6 from 

 Tavoy in the Tenasserim provinces, and Captain Beavan, in his paper on the "Birds of 

 the Andaman Islands," f gives a note of Colonel Tytler's to the effect that the bird is 

 common there. 



I have in my own collection three specimens from Malacca, and Mr. Moore, in his 

 valuable essays on the collection formed by Dr. Cantor in the Malay Peninsula, g observes, 

 " It would appear to be tolerably common at Pinang, where this species was collected." 



The following are Mr. Jerdon's notes on the present bird, taken from his 

 "Birds of India:"— 



" This fine Kingfisher is found but very rarely in India and Ceylon. I once obtained 

 :i specimen, which I shot myself, at Tellicherry on the Malabar Coast : and I have seen 

 others from the same locality. It is also rare in Bengal, but has been killed as high up 

 the Ganges as Mongyr ; it is more common, however, in the Sunderbuns, and on the 

 Burmese Coast, as far as the Malay Peninsula and Islands, extending eastward to China. 

 It appears to prefer wooded countries near the sea, or mouths of large rivers. It is said 

 to feed both on fish and on insects, and has a harsh crowing call." 



Mr. Layard observes, 1 ' " This lovely Kingfisher has but once fallen under my notice 

 as an inhabitant of Ceylon. The specimen in question was shot in the Jaffna district in 

 the island of Valenny. I know nothing personally of its habits." 



Mr. Gould has given a beautiful illustration of the present species in his " Birds of 

 Asia," concerning which Mr. Blyth, in his commentary on Jerdon's "Birds of India,"' 

 remarks, " In Mr. Gould's figure in the Birds of Asia, the bill should be deeper and 

 bright coral-red ; and the head in the living bird looks considerably larger, while the 

 body- feathers are more compressed."' 



I have now before me a specimen collected at Sarawak by Mr. Wallace, which has 

 the bill a little shorter and stouter, and the under parts more richly coloured than my 

 Malacca specimens, though in the measurements of the wings and tail they agree exactly. 



a. Yoy. Nov. Guin. p. 65. pi. 31. b. Del. Faun. et. Flor. Ins. 11. p. 00. o. P. Z. 8. 18G3, p. 209. 



(1. Il.is. l.KC.O. p. 49. o. P. Z. S. 1859. p. 150. f. Ibis, 1867. p. 314. 



£. P Z. S. 1854, r . 2C8. h. Arm. Nat, Hist. 1853, p. 171. i. Ibis, 1866, p. 348. 



