niu mm
mn mem

ALCEDO BENGALENSIS, Gmel.
Indian Kingfisher.

Alcedo bengalensis, Gmel. Edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 450.—Bonn. et Vieill. Ency. Méth., Orn part i. p. 291
: oe ” -» part 1. p. 291.

—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. part i. p. 102.—Id. § a8 *.
of Comm. of Sci. and Corr. cc Zool. Soe ae ee a i - - LOD eee BOS
—Jerd. Madras Journ. of Lit. and Se ale eee ee ie ae part vu. p. 156.
Je Comet and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 81.—Gray, Cat. of coed oe 7
part li. sec. 1. p. 63.—Id. Cat. of Spec. and Draw. of Mamm. and Birds pres. to Brit. Mus 3 5 a
eo Esq., p. 57.—Blyth, Journ. of Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xv. p. ira Cat of Birds M ;
au Soc. Calcutta, p. 49.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p- 158 —Dr. F B. eee eon
rol i. p. 27.—Cass. Cat. of Hale. in Mus. Acad. Sci. Philad., p. 3.—Horsf. scares Cat of Birds
in Mus. East Ind. Comp., vol. i. p. 129.—Kittl. Kupf. Vog., t. 29. fig. 2.—Cab. et ne “hie Fiecin,
Theil ii. p. 144.—Irby in Ibis, vol. iii. p. 228.—Swinh. in Ibis, vol. iii. pp. 31 & Pe Spe a
Consp. Vol. Anisod. in Ateneo Italiano, no. 11, Agosto 1854.—Sieb., Temm. and Schlee. Faun Ja |
tab. Xxxvill. cs gai

Alcedo hispidioides, Less. Compl. Buff., tom. ix. p. 345.

hispidula, Cat. of Rivoli Coll., pp. 2, 3.

Bengalensis, var. Indica, Reichenb. Handb., tom. i. p. 3, 34, tab. 393. fig. 3047.

Ispida Bengalensis, Klem, Av., p. 34, no. 2.—Briss. Orn., tom. iv. p. 475. Bale Hist. Nat. des Ois., tom xiii.

De 297.

minor, Briss. Orn., tom. iv. p. 477.

Alcedo ispida Bengalensis, Sieb., Temm. et Schleg. Faun. Jap., p. 76.

japonica, Bonap. Consp. Vol. Anisod. in Ateneo Italiano, no. 11, Agosto 1854.

The Little Indian Kingfisher, Edw. Nat. Hist. of Birds, vol. 1. pl. 11.

Chota Kilkila of the Hindoos (Jerdon).

Chota match-ranga of the Musselmans (Dr. F. B. Hamilton).

Seeta koona, Malwa (Boys).

Match-ranga of the Bengalese (Blyth and Hamilton).

Rajah whodan, Malay (Blyth).

Mal-pilli hudua (piuchi or “ small”), in Ceylon (Blyth).

Tow-yii-long of the Cantonese (Swinhoe).

 

 

 

 

 

Ir I were writing the history of the British Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida), I should state that the middle portion
of Europe was probably the centre of its area of range, and that from thence it radiated westward to the
British Islands, northwards to Norway and Sweden, southward to Morocco, and eastward to Asia Minor,
and that, in the latter country, it inosculates with another species, the A/cedo Bengalensis, the subject of
the present memoir. Here, then, the two species meet ; but this appears to be the western Jian of the
Indian bird, its true habitat being Scinde, Bombay, and the whole of the Peninsula of India, wherever
abits occur; thence it advances eastward to China and Japan, and southward through
the Indian Islands to Timor, according to the authors of the ‘Fauna Japonica.’ Specimens from these
widely extended localities present certain trifling differences both in size and colour, but not to the extent

observable between the Indian and European species,—the Alcedo Bengalensis differing from the 4. ispida
but more brilliantly coloured, and in the more decided cha-

being so apparent that the experienced

situations suited to its h

not only in being considerably smaller in size,

racter of the markings of its head and wing-coverts, these features

e no difficulty in deciding at a glance to whicl
I have said this much on the subject in order to prove the right of Asia to claim
her avi-fauna; but as the subject has been most carefully

it is only justice to him to transcribe his

ornithologist would hav ) country a specimen belonged, were

iologist wou

his opinion required.

a true and distinct species of this form among
-. >

investigated by my friend Schlegel in the ‘Fauna Japonica,

remarks :— cage
“ The common Kingfisher of Bengal.—This bird, which takes the place of the ordinary Kingfisher

: ‘ ‘ ‘fer from that species except in
throughout a great part of southern and eastern Asia, does not appear to ae ; ‘ ee ‘ a
e 1 i age > modern < s ¢
its smaller size, and occasionally by the depth of the tints of its plumage. Some mn : z i
; ific disti jave considere Se
these differences of too little importance to serve as a means of specific ae ‘ pepe
i i se existence of several races of this :
irds ine 1e 8 > have not even admitted tl
birds as belonging to the same species, and he

P i I “selves -ecord the observations we
i i 1 stl f nomenclature, we shall limit oursel\ Bevo
utting on one side this question O

  

HH
5