—
ACTENOIDES CONCRETUS.
Sumatran Kingfisher.
Dacch concrete, Temm. PI. Col. 346 (1825).—D’Orb. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. t. 4 (1849). -Schleg. Mus. P.-B. Alced.
p. 26 (1863) —Id. Vog. Nederl. Ind. pp. 25, 27, pi. 8 (1864).—Swinh. Ibis, 1873, p. 231.—Schleg.
Revue Alced. Mus. P.-B. p. 18 (1876).
Halcyon varia, Eyton, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 101— Gass. U.S. Expl. Exp. Aves, p. 223 (1858).
concreta, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 79 (1846).—Id. List of Fissirostres in B. M. p. 52 (1848).—B.p. Consp. i.
p. 154 (1850).—Cass. Cat. Hale. Phil. Mus. p. 11 (1852).—Pelz. Reis. Novar. Vog. pp. 41, 161
(1865).—Gray, Hand-1. B, i. p. 93 (1869).—Sharpe, Monogr. Alced. p. 219, pi. 83.
Todiramphus varius, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv. p. 11 (1846).—Id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 47 ( 1849).
Paralcyon concreta, Reich. Handb. Alced. i. p. 36, Taf. ccccxxi. fig. 3145, Taf. ccccxxii. figs. 3145-46 (1851).
Caridagrus concretns, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. ii. p. 161 (I860).—Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 102.
I n the different countries of the world in which I have lived, it has been my lot to see and to study members
of the two groups of Kingfishers which Mr. Sharpe calls “ fish-eating ” and “ reptilivorous.” Our own A l
cedo ispida is the most typical example of the former group, while perhaps the great Laughing Jackasses oi
Australia are the extreme representatives of the other forest-loving reptile-eating Kingfishers. These two
sections, into which the family has been divided by Mr. Bowdler Sharpe in his ‘ Monograph,’
appear to me to rest on natural grounds ; but I cannot follow him in his arrangement of some of the
intermediate forms, such as the genus Halcyon &c. Nature has here provided us with several groups, each
possessing distinctive characters as regards colour &c., which seem to me to afford strong grounds for
generic separation. Thus I would follow Lord Tweeddale and Count Salvadori in separating the green
Kingfishers as Sauropatis ; and I feel justified in keeping the three species now figured under the one generic
heading of Actenoides, believing, as I do, that their peculiar coloration and the character of the feathers
point them out as being all closely and generically allied.
I regret that there is nothing recorded of the habits of this fine Kingfisher, which is a native of Malacca,
Sumatra, and Borneo.
The following careful description is drawn from Mr. Sharpe’s ' Monograph,’ with the single alteration
that the bird which he describes as “ young ” is here considered to be the old female, Mr. Swinhoe (/. c.)
having procured a properly sexed specimen of the hen bird in this plumage at Penang.
“ Head dull green, with a line of brighter green from above the eye encircling the nape ; below this bright
green circlet a broad line of black ; eyebrow and ear-coverts pale rufous ; a line of feathers from base of
bill down the sides of the neck deep ultramarine ; back of neck deep sienna, below which the back is black ;
upper part of the back and scapularies rich ultramarine; lower part of the back very bright cobalt; quills
brown, the inner web pale rufous at the base; the whole of the wing-coverts and the outer web of the quills
rich ultramarine, uniform with the scapularies ; tail blue above, black beneath ; under surface of the body
rich sienna, the middle of the abdomen white ; upper mandible black, fine rich ochreous buff on the under
mandible and edge of the upper; feet yellow. Total length 9 inches, culmen 1*9, wing 4 ‘5, tail 2-2, tarsus
0 -5, middle toe 0*75.
“ Female.—Similar to the adult male, but has the wing-coverts and scapulars spotted with ochre.”
In the Plate are represented an adult pair of birds, of the natural size.