Birds of Celebes: Alcedinidae. 
279 
The most important points of difference in this form of Ceycopsis appear 
to be the differently shaped bill, and the large size and great extent on the 
sides and back of the nape of the blue spots or bars of the head; on the sides 
of the nape, in fact, they blend into almost continuous blue. Ceycopsis is a 
peculiarly Celebesian genus, as remarked above. 
GENUS HALCYON 8w. 
This large genus has been split into eleven, chiefly by Cabanis 8c Heine 
and Bonaparte, and it contains indeed a number of forms which might per- 
haps be allowed subgeneric distinction, but for the present Dr. Sharpe has no 
doubt done useful work in gathering them together, though it might be puzzling 
to distinguish all members of the genus by his key. 
These Kingfishers are of medium size, from the size of a Lark to that of 
a Thrush. The tail is longer than the bill; the inner toe, the hallux, and the 
tarsus are of about equal length with one another. Compared with Pelargopsis, 
Halcyon may be recognised by its flatter bill and rounded culmen; measured 
at a level with the anterior end of the nostril the bill is as broad as it is deep; 
in Pelargopsis it is very much narrower than deep; on the other side of Halcyon 
may be placed Dacelo and Sauromarptis of the Australian Region, in these 
the bill is very broad, the length from the nostril being only 2 to 2 V 2 times 
its width, as against 3 — 4 times in Halcyon, or sometimes over 4 times in 
Pelargopsis. 
Mr. Blanford (Faun. Br. Ind. B. Ill, 1895, 119) recognises Halcyon (con- 
taining H. pileata), Callialcyon (H. coromanda), and Sauropatis [H chloris, also 
H. sancta) as distinct genera; in the first-named the primaries are white at the 
base and the bill is red; the bill is also red in Callialcyon, but in Sauropatis it 
is black on the upper mandible and on the terminal part of the lower. In 
Sauropatis it should be added that the first j^Hmary is nearly as long as the 
second and third and about equal to the fourth; in Callialcyon, as in typical 
Halcyon, it is shorter — the tip about half way between the secondaries and the 
wing-tip. Sharpe (1892) recognises 53 species oi Halcyon, inhabiting Africa, the 
warmer parts of Asia to Australia. 
88. HALCYON COROMANDA (Lath.). 
Ruddy Kingfisher. 
This species ranges from the Himalayas, East China, and Japan, south to 
the Philippines, Celebes, Java, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands'). It 
varies locally. The Celebes form has received a name, and it may, apparently, 
be allowed to stand as a subspecies without causing confusion. 
•) It is absent, according to Blanford, in tlio Indian Peninsula. 
