Genus HALCYON. 
Bill differing from the last in having the culmen sharply keeled and curved slightly near the 
tip, and the upper mandible suddenly compressed. Nostrils more oblique, less advanced ; gape less 
angulated. Wings with the 2nd quill subequal to the 3rd. Tibia feathered in front to the knee. 
Of smaller size than Pelargopsis. 
HALCYON SMYRNENSIS. 
(THE WHITE-BREASTED KINGFISHER.) 
Alcedo smyrnensis , Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 181 (1766). 
Halcyon smyrnensis , Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii. p. 99 (1826) ; Sykes, P. Z. S. 1852, p. 84 ; Blyth, 
Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 47 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 118 (1852); Layard, 
Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 172; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. 
p. 125 (1854) ; Tristram, Ibis, 1866, p. 86 ; Sharpe, Mon. Alced. pi. 59 (1868-71) ; 
Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 424; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 105 (1873) ; Adam, Str. 
Feath. 1873, p. 372 ; Hume, ibid. 1874, p. 167; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 14. 
Alcedo fusca, Bodd. Tab. PI. Enl. 54 (1783). 
Halcyon fuscus (Bodd.), Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 224; G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds, i. p. 79 
(1849). 
The Smyrna Kingfisher , Latham ; The Indian Kingfisher , ILorsfield ; Blue Kingfisher, 
Europeans in Ceylon. 
KiJcila, Hind. ; Sade-huJc match ranga , Beng. ; Laic muka , Tel. ; Vichuli, Tam. (J erdon) ; 
Matsya-ranga, Sanscrit ; Fei-tsuy, China (Swinli.). 
Pelihuduwa, Sinhalese ; Kalavi lairuvi, lit. “ Wide-mouthed Bird,” Ceylon Tamils (Layard). 
Adult male and female. Length 10'8 to ll'l inches ; wing 4‘4 to 4 - 6 ; tail 3 - 2 to 3'4 ; tarsus 05 ; middle toe 07 to 
0-75, claw (straight) 0-37 ; bill to gape 2*5 to 2'7 ; depth at gonys-angle 4-9 to 5 - 7. 
Iris sepia-brown; bill deep arterial red; inside of mouth vermilion; anterior portion of legs and feet dark brownish 
red ; posterior portion and soles of feat orange-red ; claws blackish. 
Head, cheeks, back, and sides of neck, sides of chest, and all the lower parts from the breast downwards with the under 
wing-coverts deep chestnut-brown or reddish chocolate-colour, darkest on the head, hind neck, and sides of chest ; 
back, scapulars, rump, upper tail-covert.s, tail, secondaries, and basal portion of outer webs of all but the first 
primary, when viewed against the light, turquoise-blue, brightest on the back, rump, and secondaries, and when 
viewed with the light malachite- green ; tertials and margins of the tail-feathers with a decided greenish hue; first 
primary, terminal portion of the rest, tips of secondaries, and inner half of the inner webs blackish brown ; least 
wing-coverts lighter chestnut than the head, the median secondary coverts coal-black ; shafts of tail-feathers 
black ; a fine line just beneath the lower eyelid, chin, fore neck, centre of the chest, edge of the wing, and basal 
portion of the inner webs of the primaries white, increasing on the latter towards the inner feather, on which it 
approaches close to the tip. 
Some examples have a brownish wash on the forehead and crown, and, in fact, the chestnut portions of the plumage 
are, as a rule, variable, some birds being darker in this respect than others. It is worthy of remark that if this 
Kingfisher be held away from the light, the white chest assumes a greenish hue. 
Young. The nestling has the bill red at the base, paling to yellowish towards the tip, which is black. 
The feathers of the head and hind neck are pale-tipped, mostly so on the forehead ; the least wing-coverts are tinged 
with black. 
