286 
Birds of Celebes: Alcedinidae. 
“Not uncommon at Foochow in spring and from the end of August 
to the beginning of October. It occurs also sparingly in winter” — 
De La Touche 18. 
Tenasserimf the numbers vary according to the season. “In January and 
February excessively numerous along the higher portions of the Pakchan; 
on going over the same part of the river in May, not a single bird 
was to be seen” — Davison 3. 
Sumatra: during the rainy season (October — January) a very common bird 
which one hardly ever sees at other seasons — Hagen 
Palawan: “a winter migrant, arriving about 23"'^ Sept.” — Whitehead 14. 
In addition to these observations attention should be drawn to the numerous 
dates of the specimens in the British Museum recorded by Dr. Sharpe (el) 
viz: India, 5 specimens, December and January; Burma 8, December, January; 
Tenasserim, 45, September to April; Malay Peninsula, 25 (some without dates), 
October to March, but one also in August; S. E. China, 3, January. Only one 
specimen was known from Ceylon at the time of publication of Legge’s great 
work, “which must have been a straggler driven to the coasts of Ceylon by the 
northerly winds of December”' So, too, only a single specimen is as yet known 
from Japan, a recent addition to the avifauna of that country (11). The migra- 
tory habits of the species serve to explain these occurrences. 
It is an interesting question why this species is migratory, while Callialcyon 
coromanda, which has very much the same range, is stationary except in the 
northern parts of its range. The latter species, as Dr. Sharpe has shown, 
now appears to be undergoing subdivision into many species or subspecies within 
itself. At one time, we may suppose, it was a migrant like H. pileata, but has 
gradually become almost completely stationary. H. pileata is perhaps beginning 
to settle down in the same way, as its occurrence in South China in summer 
and winter and in the Malay Peninsula in winter and summer tends to show. 
The successful multiplication of the southern residents and their gradual spread- 
ing would prove a destructive agent to wandering habits on the part of others 
of the species. 
The long Northern Peninsula of Celebes presents a remarkable boundary 
to species migrating from East Asia to warmer quarters for the winter. This 
has already been noticed in the case of several species. It is unusual for 
migrant Asiatic species to pass beyond this boundary into the Moluccas. Noi- 
ls this to be wandered at. The Celebes Sea is shut in like a basin with the 
long wall of North Celebes for its southern border, and the Sangi chain of 
islands between Mindanao and the Minahassa on the east. Kingfishers, being 
heavy birds of strong but nervous flight, heading their way straight, apparently, 
like a bolt towards a given mark, will be little likely to wander away from 
the path thus made geographically easy for them. This may explain whv 
Callialcyon coromonda is not found east of the Celebesian Province. 
