THE COMMON KINGFISHER. 
67 
longer than the bill, in AUedo the bill is much longer than 
the tail. So it is in the African genus Corytliornis and the 
Australian genus Alcyone, both of which are fish-eaters, but 
Alcyone has only three toes, and Corythornis has a long droop- 
ing crest, which distinguishes it at once from Alcedo. 
I. THE COMMON KINGFISHER. ALCEDO ISPIDA. 
Alcedo ispida, Linn. S. N. i. p. 179 (1766); Macg. Br. B. iii. 
p. 671 (1840); Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 113, pi. 290(1875): 
Newt. ed. Yarr. ii. p. 443 (1881); B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 
81 (1883)^ Seebohm, Br. B. ii. p. 341 (1884) ; Lilford, 
Col. Fig. Br. B. part viii. (1888) ; Saunders, Man. p. 269 
(1889); Sharpe, Cat. B. xvii. p. 141 (1892). 
(Plate XXXIV.) 
Adult Male. — General colour greenish-blue, the scapular 
feathers slightly streaked with brighter blue ; the back, rump, 
and upper tail-coverts, rich cobalt-blue, sometimes, in very old 
individuals, deep blue ; wing-coverts like the back, the median 
and greater series spotted with greenish-cobalt ; bastard-wing, 
primary-coverts and quills blackish, externally blue; tail 
feathers also blue, with black shafts; crown of head greenish- 
blue, with bands of dusky-black, and with a shaft-stripe of 
greenish-blue ; lores blackish, with a streak of orange-rufous 
above, the sides of the face and ear-coverts being also orange- 
rufous ; cheek-stripe bright blue, with dusky bars; on each 
side of the neck a band of buffy-whitc feathers, slightly tinged 
with orange-rufous ; under surface of body rich orange-rufous, 
the throat buffy-white ; the sides of the upper breast greenish- 
blue; bill black; feet coral-red; iris dusky-brown. Tolallencrth, 
7’5 inches ; culmen, i'75 ; wing, 3'i ; tail, i‘5 ; tarsus, o’35. 
Adult Female.— Similar to the male, but not quite so bright in 
colour, and always to be distinguished by having the basal half 
of the under mandible red. Total length, 7-0 inches; culmen, 
i'S 5 ; wing, 3-0 ; tail, i-4 ; tarsus, 0-3. ’ 
Young. —Much more dingy in colour than the adults, and 
always to be distinguished by the ashy margins to the feathers 
of the fore-neck and breast, which impart an ashy shade to this 
portion of the body. 
F 2 
