THE BLACK-CAPPED KINGFISHER. 
83 
472. HALCYON PILEATA. 
THE BLACK-CAPPED KINGFISHER. 
Alcedo pileata, Bocld. Tdbl. PI. Enl. p. 41. Alcedo atricapilla, Gm. Syst. Nat. 
i. p. 453. Halcyon atricapillus, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 226. Halcyon pileata, 
Sharpe, Mon. Alced. p. 169, pi. 62 ; Hume, 8. F. iii. p. 51 ; Bl. B. Btmn. p. 70 ; 
Armstrong, S. F. iv. p. 306 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 301 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. 
p. 74 ; Hume, 8. F. viii. p. 85 ; Bingham, 8. F. viii. p. 193, ix. p. 154 ; KelJiam, 
Ibis, 1881, p. 380 ; Oates, 8. F. x. p. 187. Entomobia pileata, 8alvad. Ucc. 
Born. p. 102 ; David et Oust. Ois, Chine, p. 75. 
Description. — Male. Forehead,, crown^ nape, ear-coverts, cheeks and 
moustache black, the lores and forehead slightly mottled with whitish; chin, 
throat and neck white tinged with fulvous, forming a very broad collar; back, 
rump, scapulars and upper tail-coverts glossy violet-purple, shading into 
black near the white collar ; tail rich violet-purple, all but the central pair 
of feathers bordered with, black on the outer webs and tipped slightly with 
fulvous-white; wing-coverts black; winglet and primary-coverts blue ; the 
shafts of the first six primaries black, of the others black with the central 
portion white ; primaries white at base, black at the end, the white tinged 
with blue on the outer webs and speckled with blue near the white parts of 
the shafts ; secondaries and tertiaries blue on the outer webs ; the inner 
webs blue next the shaft, black elsewhere, and all tipped black ; breast 
pale fulvous, with brown specks arranged in crescentic forms ; centre of 
abdomen white; remainder of lower plumage rich fulvous. 
Hhe female resembles the male, but has the breast sometimes streaked 
with black. This, however, may only denote immaturity. 
Bill deep red ; mouth pale red ; iris dark brown ; eyelids pinkish 
plumbeous, covered with white feathers except on the edges, where they 
are black ; legs dark red, brownish in front of the tarsus ; claws dark 
horn. 
Length 12 inches, tail 3*6, wing 5, tarsus '7, bill from gape 2*8. The 
female is of the same size. 
The Black-capped Kingfisher is found in all the maritime portions 
of British Burmah and also at a considerable distance up the larger rivers. 
In the Irrawaddy I procured it at Palow, not many miles below Thayetmyo ; 
and in the Sittang I observed it to be numerous in the interminable creeks 
and swamps on the right bank of the river below Shwaygheen. At both 
these localities the water is always sweet. As a rule, however, this bird is 
found more commonly in salt or brackish water. It appears to feed 
entirely on fish, and to plunge after them from its resting-place. 
This bird is found over the greater part of India^ in Ceylon, the Andaman 
Islands, China, Siam, Cochin Chinaj the Philippine Islands, the Malay 
peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. 
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