96 DOUBLE-COLLARED KINGFISHER. 
white Kingfishers, of regions vastly more distant, 
will eventually prove to be equally distinct. 
It is utterly impossible to draw up a minute 
description of the plumage of a bird whose every 
feather, almost, is varied, in a different manner, 
with black and white ; we must, therefore, as in the 
case of the Caprimulgidce, single out the most 
prominent characteristics. The crown of the head 
and the crest on the nape is not entirely black, as 
in the Cape species, but each feather has a very 
narrow line of white, producing a striped appear- 
ance; the white stripe which springs from each 
nostril is carried over the eye and cars, and is lost 
in the variegated feathers of the crest ; below this is 
a black line which is the continuation of the black 
on the ears ; following this is another collar of pure 
white round the nape, which in like manner is a 
continuation of the white on the throat. As to the 
wings, almost every quill has a different proportion 
of black and white, but the outer web of the ninth 
and tenth quill (except the tips) are entirely black. 
The under plumage is pure glossy white, rvith a 
broad unbroken black belt (narrowed in the middle) 
across the breast, and another, equally entire, much 
narrower, but of equal breadth throughout ; half an 
inch below the first, the flanks have a few stripes of 
black. — The figure of the PI. Enl. 62 may possibly 
represent the young bird. 
Total length about 10| inches; bill, from the 
front, 2 t 2 c ; wings, ; tail beyond, 1 ; ditto from 
the base, 3J ; tarsus, T s 5 . 
