<p>lower mandible down the sides of the neck, pure white, the latter varied with longitudinal <br>
black marks ; cheeks and a line of feathers below the last-mentioned line of white and <br>
black feathers, black, the former narrowly, and the latter broadly varied with white ; lower part <br>
of the throat and chest rich rufous, the sides varied with slaty -grey ; feathers spotted with <br>
white ; flanks white banded with slaty-grey ; under wing- and tail-coverts white with an <br>
occasional black spot ; centre of the abdomen and vent pure white, bill black ; feet dark <br>
olive-brown; irides nearly black. Total .length 14.8 inches, of bill from front 3.5, from <br>
gape 4.3, wing 8.0, tail 5.3, tarsus 0.4, middle toe 1.0, hind toe 0.3. <br>
Adult female. Similar to the male, but instead of the upper part of the chest being <br>
rufous, it is replaced by a broad slate-coloured band, each feather being banded with white ; <br>
below this is a white band, and the rest of the under-surface of the body with the under <br>
wing- and tail-coverts rufous. Total length 16.5 inches, of bill from front 3.5, from gape <br>
4.5, wing 8.0, tail 4.75, tarsus 0.4, middle toe 1.0, hind toe 0.3. <br>
Young female. Similar to the adult female, but has the feathers of the band on the <br>
breast darker and edged with white, the whole band tinged with rufous. <br>
Young male. Similar to the young female, but has the abdomen and under wing- and <br>
tail-coverts white. From an examination of several young males I am induced to believe <br>
that as the bird advances in age the rufous colouring of the under wing-coverts becomes <br>
pure white as in the adult male; then the abdomen loses the rufous colouring, the flanks <br>
and under tail-coverts becoming slaty -grey barred and spotted with white, the latter again <br>
in very old birds becoming pure white. At the same time the black feathers on the <br>
upper part of the breast disappear, being replaced by a rufous band. <br>
Hah. Abyssinia, East Senaar (Heuglin), "White Nile (Petherick, mus. Wald.), Senegal <br>
(mus. Hein.), River Gambia (mus. Brem.), Casamanze ( Verreaux), Bissao ( Verreaux), Ashan- <br>
tee (Pel), Fantee (Pel), Congo (mus. Dres., Brit.), Gaboon (Verreaux), St. Thomas (Gujori), <br>
River Quanza (Monteird), Damaraland: River Okavango, River Tioughe (Andersson), Cape <br>
Colony ( Layard), Knysna (Andersson), Caffraria (Brehm, mus Lugd.), Natal (Ayres), Trans- <br>
vaal (Ayres), Zambesi (Kirk). <br>
Considerable doubt has existed as to whether the Great African Kingfishers inha- <br>
biting the /Ethiopian Region constitute one or two species. Professor Reichenbach <br>
separated them into two under the names of Megaceryle maxima (Pall.) and Megaceryle gigantea <br>
(Swains.), and in this conclusion he is followed, but not without considerable hesitation, by <br>
Dr. Hartlaub. It should be noted that the learned doctor assigns 'Congo' as the habitat of <br>
C. maxima on the authority of Pallas, whereas the latter distinctly states that his specimens <br>
came from the Cape of Good Hope ; the authority for ' Congo' is Professor Reichenbach <br>
who had specimens in the Dresden Museum from that locality. The differences between C. <br>
maxima and C. gigantea are chiefly those of size, and no character can be less trustworthy <br>
in the consideration of Kingfishers. Drs. Hartlaub and Finsch, however, in their new work <br>
on East African Ornithology unite the two species, and this conclusion is doubtless <br>
the correct one. But we are not the less indebted to Mr. Gurney, who by a careful <br>
examination of specimens sent from Natal by Mr. Ayres, in 1859, endeavoured to set the <br>
matter right, and his observations are entirely correct. I am able to add, as will be <br>
seen above, some additional notes on the changes of plumage, and I have to thank Mr. <br>
Gurney for very kindly sending for my inspection the specimens examined by him. <br>
A brief analysis of the specimens described and figured by the authors to whom <br>
reference is made in the present work, may be serviceable to the student. Pallas gave a <br>
very good description as far as it went, but he described the male as the female, and vice <br>
versa. Buffos figures a young male, while Riippell's description of the female is really that <br>
of a young bird. Swainson figures a very old male, but the plate is wretchedly coloured. <br>
I do tint attach much importance to the crest being unspotted, as I dare say that in very old <br></p>
Ceryle maxima it is so, though out of the large series of specimens I have examined, I have never
Sharpe, Richard Bowdler
1868-71.
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