68 



SMYRNA KINGFISHER. 



Alcedo Smyrnensis. A. fetrugmed, giila albida, alis dorso cauda^ 



que nitide ccerukiSj rostro pedihusque ruhris. 

 Ferruginous Kingfisher, with whitish throat, glossy blue wingSj 



back and tail, aod red bill and legs. 

 Alcedo Smyrnensis. A. macroura ferruginea, alts Cauda dorsoque 



•viridibus. Lin. Syst. Nat. 

 Alcedo Smyrnensis. Briss. av» Lath. ind. orn. 

 Le Martin-pecheur bleu et roux. Buff. ois. PI. Enl. 232. 894. 

 Great Gambia Kingfisher. Edw. pi. 8. 

 Smyrna Kingfisher. Lath. syn. Albin. 3. pL 37* 

 Great Bengal Kingfisher. Albin, 3. pL 28. 



This, when in full perfection of plumage, may 

 be considered as one of the most brilliant of the 

 whole feathered race, the lucid blue of the wings 

 scarcely yielding in lustre to those of the splendid 

 butterfly called Papilio Menelaus. The bird, how- 

 ever, varies in point of colour in different indivi- 

 duals. It seems to have been first described and 

 figured in the wretched work of Albin, under the 

 name of the large Kingfisher from Bengal, and 

 afterwards by Edwards, who calls it the great 

 Kingfisher from the River Gambia. " For bigness, 

 says Edwards, this bird equals, if not exceeds the 

 Missel-Bird or Greater Thrush : it is great-headed, 

 short-necked, the body neither over-long or round: 

 the tail is long, the wings pretty long, the legs very 

 short : the bill is long and strait, pretty thick to- 

 wards the head, ending in a sharp point, of a bright 

 scarlet colour: the upper mandible is channelled on 



