THE BANDED KINGFISHERS. 
6S 
of tropical Asia, extending throughout the Indian Peninsula 
and Ceylon to China and Japan, but not penetrating farther 
than Tcnas-serim and the Indo-Chinese countries. One pecu- 
liar character of the genus Ceryle is that the sexes, contrary 
to the usual rule in Kingfishers, differ in colour, the female 
possessing an additional band on the breast. The genus 
differs also from the genus Alcedo in having a long tail, in this 
respect resembling the Stork-billed Kingfishers {Pelargopsis) of 
the Indian Region. The best known species of the genus 
Ceryle is probably the Black-and-Whitc Kingfisher {Ceryk 
rudis), which is a frequent object of interest to the traveller in 
Palestine and the Nile Valley, where it attracts attention by its 
habit of hovering in the air, like a Kestrel Hawk. 
I. THE BELTED KINGFISHER. CERYLE ALCYON. 
Alcedo alcyon, Linn. S. N. i. p. i8o (1766). 
Ceryle alcyon, Newton, cd. Yarr. ii. p. 452 (1881) j B. O. U. 
List Br. B. p. 81 (1883) ; Seebohm, Br. B. ii. p. 348 
(1884); Saunders, Man. p. 270 (1889); Sharpe, Cat. B. 
xvii. p. 125 (1892). 
Adult Male. — General colour above slaty-blue, with a well- 
developed crest of the same colour ; round the hind-neck a 
white collar; wing-coverts spotted with white; quills black, 
with white tips, the outer webs with white spots, the second- 
aries externally slaty-blue with white spots ; tail also slaty-blue, 
banded and spotted with white ; under surface of body white, 
with a broad band of slaty-blue across the upper breast, the 
flanks also mottled with slaty-blue ; bill black ; feet dark 
bluish-grey; iris dark brown. Total length, 12 inches; cul- 
men, 2 0 ; iving, 6-4 ; tail, 3-2 ; tarsus, 0-3. 
Adult Female.— Differs from the male in having a second band 
of rusty-red on the breast, below the grey one, the flanks beim; 
also rufous. Total length, 11-5 inches; wing, 6'4. 
Young Male.— Resembles the old female, and has two bands 
on the breast like the latter. The second rufous band, how- 
ever, is narrower than that of the old hen-bird, and the band 
on the upper breast has a strong admixture of rufous, as well 
as the flanks. 
