95 
DOUBLE-COLLARED KINGFISHER. 
Ispida bicincta , Swains. 
Crested ; body above, variegated with black and white ; be- 
neath, white with two black collars on the breast ; nuchal 
collar white and immaculate. 
When we find all authors affirming that the Black 
and White Kingfisher “ inhabits various regions, 
both of Asia and Africa, Egypt, Persia, Senegal, 
and the Cape of Good Hope, — that it varies both 
in size and in the particular mixture of its colours,” 
it is impossible not to conclude that more than one 
species is confounded under the common name of 
Alcedo rudis, and that in all probability this mixture 
of black and white in the plumage, instead of being 
the character of a species, more probably belongs to 
a small division of the genus. The bird now be- 
fore us affords at least a confirmation, in one 
instance, of such a supposition. All writers* agree 
in stating that the true Alcedo rudis of the Cape of 
Good Hope has but one black belt on the breast, 
whereas the species now before us has two. When, 
therefore, we find so strong a specific distinction 
between birds inhabiting two localities so compara- 
tively near to each other as Senegal and the Cape, 
we may fairly conclude that the other black and 
* See particularly Edwards, i. pi. 9 ; Buffon ed. Sotmini, xx. 
192 ; and PI. Erd. 716. 
