File:A monograph of the Alcedinidae (19833374395).jpg

wing- coverts, black washed with bright blue; lower part of the back, rump and upper tail-
coverts, rufous washed with bright lilac ; wing-feathers blackish, the inner web rufous
from the base ; tail rufous, in some specimens black ; a spot in front of the eye, cheeks,
sides of the neck and under- surface of the body, pale orange ; chin and a patch of feathers
on the side of the neck, white ; a spot at the base of the bill and a patch of feathers at the
side of the neck from above the ear, blue ; bill and feet coral-red ; eyes brown. Total
length 5. 3 inches, of bill from front, 1.2, from gape 1.6, wing 2.3, tail 1, tarsus 0.2,
middle toe 0.4, hind toe 0.2.
Hab. India and Ceylon (Jerdon), Nepal (Hodgson), Penang (Cantor), Singapore (mus
Pliilad.), Sumatra (mus. I/ugd ), Java (mus. Brit.) Philippine Islands (Cuming, mus. Brit.).
In an elaborate article published by Dr. Pucheran in the " Revue et Magazin de
Zoologie" for 1861, this learned Ornithologist endeavours to prove that in accordance with
the strict observance of the rule of priority, the name iridadyla should be applied to the
red-backed species (Ceyx rufidorsa). It seems that both species were well known to the
older authors, all of whom were wont to consider the red-backed bird as the female or else
a variety of the blue-backed species.
The first mention of the two birds is found in an old work of Vosmaer's published at
Amsterdam in 1768, where a figure of both birds is given. It is pretty clear that Linnams
in describing the bird in his " Mantissa" simply copied Vosmaer's description without
apparently ever having seen the bird. Dr. Pucheran had only a French translation of
Vosmaer's work at hand when he wrote his paper, and he argues that, as both birds were
known to Vosmaer and Linnaaus, by whom they were considered to be sexes of the same
bird, the blue-backed species having been separated by Gmelin in 1788 under the name of
Akedo jmynirea, the name tridactyJa should fall on the supposed female. To the casual
observer this reasoning appears fair enough, but the Zoological Society have lately acquired
a copy of the original edition of Vosmaer's work, and I was rather astonished to find on
examination that the Dutch author was not a binominalist and never gave a scientific name
to any bird. Dr. Pucheran is again in error when he talks of the bird being first described
by Linnams and afterwards by Pallas, as the 12th fascicule of the latter's " Spicilegia" has
a priority of two years over the " Mantissa" of Linnams and as Pallas gave a very clear
description of the present species under the name of Alcedo tridactyla, this name ought to be
applied to the blue-backed bird. Vosmaer's work need not be taken into consideration at
all, as it contains no scientific names. The red- backed species, considered by Pallas to be
probably the female of his Alcedo tridactyla, was described as a distinct species for the first
time by Mr. Strickland in 1846, under the name of C. rufidorsa.
" This very lovely species," writes Mr. Jerdon, in his " Birds of India," " is scattered
though far from common, over all India with Ceylon. Col. Sykes procured it in the
Deccan ; but it seems to be a coast bird for the most part. I obtained it in Southern India
and it has been killed near Calcutta. It appears to be more common in Malayana. It
feeds exclusively on small fish and aquatic insects."
The Penang Kingfisher is undoubtedly the most widely distributed species of the
whole genus, being found all over the Indo-Malayan Islands, and it is even met with in the
Philippines. The British Museum contains a beautiful specimen obtained in these islands,
by the late Mr. H. Cuming, and the Leiden Museum has also a young bird from the same
locality.
My description and measurements taken from a very beautiful male in my own
collection from Penang, and the figures represent a pair of birds in the Leiden Museum.
The left hand figure, it will be observed, has a red tail, while the tail of the right hand
bird is blackish. This difference may be sexual or the sign of a young bird, and I