93 
GREAT AFRICAN KINGFISHER. 
Ispida gigantea, Swains. 
PLATE XI. 
Above, cinereous, spotted with white ; chin and cheeks, white, 
immaculate ; breast with a broad rufous collar ; head above, 
black, crested behind. 
Among tlie largest sized Kingfishers that have long 
been imperfectly known and incorporated in our 
systems, there is the greatest confusion, not only as 
to the characters of the birds themselves, but like- 
wise in regard to their native countries. The 
Alcedo gigantea, or Giant Kingfisher of the old 
authors, long since removed from this genus, in- 
cludes two, if not three species. The Alcedo afra, 
or Great African Kingfisher ( PI. Enl. 679), is a 
native of Brazil, while the Alcedo torquata, said to 
be found in Mexico, is only the female of the last. 
We have, however, in the bird we now designate, a 
species of a size fully equal to any of its genus, and 
in every respect strikingly different from any of the 
above. 
The general colour above is dark cinereous, 
thickly covered with white spots ; these spots are 
thickest on the wing, and nearly obsolete on the 
