ALCEDO BEN GALEN SIS. 
293 
Indian specimens of A. bengalensis correspond very fairly in size, the balance perhaps being in favour of the 
latter The measurements 'of several from different parts of India, which I have examined in the British 
Museum, are as follows : — (1) wing 2-95 inches, bill to gape 172 ; (2) wing 2-9, bill to gape 1-82; (3) wing 
2-8 bill to gape 1-85 (Assam) ; (4) wing 2-85 (Kamptee). The dimensions of four specimens from the Irrawaddy 
delta, recorded in ‘ Stray Feathers,’ are wing 275 to 2-8 inches, bill to gape 1'8 to 2-0, the latter measuremen 
exceeding any that I have note of from Ceylon. Mr. Sharpe, in his exhaustive article in the 1 Monograph ot the 
Alcedinid®,’ gives the wing of Central-Asian and Philippine birds as 2’9 inches ; and one I have examined from 
Celebes measures 27, bill to gape 1-97, and very stout. Compared with the above dimensions, Mr. Sharpe notes 
the average size of the wing in A. ispida as from 2-95 to 3*1. An example from Belgium, examined by myself 
in the national collection, has the wing 2-95, and the bill to gape 1-6 ; another from England, wing 3'05 and 
bill to cape 1-95. A Cairo specimen of A. lenga lensis has the wing 2-8, bill to gape 2-0, and is referred to 
this species by Mr. Sharpe purely on account of its length of bill. In fact the two species grade into one 
another at the north-west confines of India and throughout the west of Asia to the borders of Europe in such a 
manner that it would be difficult, from a mere perusal of dimensions, to arrive at a proper identification ; typical 
specimens of the Indian form are found far to the west and out of its usual habitat, but no typical examples ot 
the European form are found further within the habitat of A. bengalensis than Sindh. In this latter region 
Mr. Hume considers the race to be an intermediate one, which averages as large as A. ispida, while the bills 
are, as a rule, shorter than in either species. He also notes that the birds from the Andamans and Pegu bale 
very short bills. 
Distribution. The present species inhabits the whole island of Ceylon, from the sea-coast to the level of 
the Nuwara-Elliya plain. Wherever there is water, he it the tiny pond resorted to by buffaloes and wild 
animals in the midst of a parched-up district, or the flooded paddy-field, the lonely tank or forest river, the 
brackish lagoon, or even the rocky sea-shore, the Little Kingfisher is sure to he found. In the wet districts of 
the west and south its numbers are greater than in the north and east, but nevertheless m these it congregates 
in great numbers in those few spots where water is to be found. 
Every forest-lined river has its pair of Kingfishers at every quarter of a mile, which dwell in the out- 
spreading branches of the Koombook and Mee-trees, and ever and anon plunge into the trickling stream beneath 
them. It is common enough in the Central-Province valleys drained by the Maliawelliganga and its affluents, 
but above 3500 feet becomes tolerably scarce. It finds its way to the Nuwara-Elliya lake up the streams from 
the Fort-Macdonald patnas; but I have not seen it on the streams between there and the Horton Plains, nor 
on the source of the Maha Elliya in the plain itself, the rise through forest from Galagama of the latter 
stream to the level of the plain (about 5600 feet) being too great for the explorations of the Little “Fisher.” 
This bird is found all over India, being in nearly all parts the most numerous of its family in the 
peninsula. It is not frequent in some of the hill-districts of the south, for I observe that neither 
Mr. Bourdillon nor Mr. Eairbauk met with it on the Travancore and Palani hills. It is, however, not 
uncommon in the Nilghiris, and has been found nesting as high as Ootacamund. It is noted as being very 
common in the Kandhala district and also in Chota Nagpur. Turning to the north-west we find it rare at the 
Sambhur Lake, common at Mount Aboo and in the Guzerat plains, and very rare again in Sindh, where it is 
replaced by a larger race as above noticed. It extends north of India into Central Asia and the Amoorland, 
where Sclirenk procured it ; and to the westward Mr. Sharpe notqs it from Cairo, the Sinaitic peninsula, and 
Nubia. Canon Tristram, however, only met with A. ispida in Palestine. To the east and south-east of 
India it has an extensive range, being found in Burmali, Tenasserim, Malacca, the Andamans and IS icobars, 
Java Sumatra, Labuan, Borneo, and Celebes, extending northwards again to Formosa, the Looclioo Islands, 
Eastern China, and Japan. Swinhoe received it from Hakodadi, Northern Japan, which is its most northerly 
observed limit on the eastern bounds of Asia. The only locality in Sumatra from where I can find it recorded 
is Lampong, on the south-east coast ; but when this vast island has been more explored it will doubtless be 
found in its western portions. 
Habits. This tame and watchful little bird passes the entire day in the constant search for its prey ; no 
bird in Ceylon is more diligent in seeking for the means of existence than this pretty little Kingfisher, which 
takes up its post on any object over water, and while calling to its mate, who is generally close at hand, 
executes its curious little gesture of frequently jerking up its head with a combined similar movement of its 
