dam, and we saw it ourselves near Graham’s-town, the Fish River,
and Kowie. Specimens were in Major Bulger’s Windvogelberg
collection. Victoria obtained examples at the Knysna in April,
July, and August, and Mr. Andersson also shot it at the same place.
Mr. Rickard records it from Port Elizabeth and East London, where,
he says, it frequents the beach as well as the rivers and feeds much
on crabs: it has also been sent from Eland’s Post by Mr. T. C.
Atmore. It appears to be scarcer in Natal than in Cape Colony,
but Mr. Ayres says that it frequents both the coast and the interior.
The specimens he procured were named at the time A. quaFribrachys,
a West-African species, and one which we do not consider an inhabitant
of South Africa, for, though the late Mr. Jules Verreaux
assured us that he obtained it on the Buffalo River, no actual specimens
are in existence from any part of South Africa, and we think
it probable that in this instance his memory failed him. Mr. Ayres
has also found the species in the Transvaal, but it was not met with
in the Zambesi country by Dr. Kirk, although a specimen said to be
from thence is in Mr. Dawson Rowley’s collection. On the western
coast it has been procured by Anchieta at Capangombe.
In habits the Half-collared Kingfisher resembles its European
prototype, and may be seen perched for some time on a bough
overhanging the water, into which it plunges after fish, &c. Its
flight is strong, but is not so swift as that of its European congener.
Mr. W. Atmore informs us that it nests in holes of banks, and that
he took one at Kykoe, which contained three polished white eggs.
General colour rich blue, the back brilliant cobalt, the head and
nape banded with bright blue lines and a stripe on the sides of the
neck white, as well as the throat; rest of under surface orange, the
sides of the breast blue, somewhat converging so as to form a half
collar; bill black; feet coral red; iris black.* Total length 7'5
inches; bill, 1‘8 ; wing, 3'2; tail, 1'8; tarsus, 0'25.
Fig. Sharpe, Monogr. Alced. pi. 7.
104. C orythornts cyanostigma. Malachite-crested Kingfisher.
Alcedo cristata, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 65.
This beautiful little Kingfisher is abundant throughout the colony,
wherever a stream or marsh exists which can supply it. with its
* The descriptions of all the Kingfishers are derived from the editor’s
“ Monograph of the Alcddinidse.”
corythornis cyanostigma. 109
necessary food. We have captured it even in. Cape Town, two
specimens which we sent to London having actually killed themselves
by flying against a building in the town itself. Victorin procured it
in the Karroo in January and February, and we have seen it in Mr.
T. C. Atmore’s collections from Eland’s Post, as well as in Major
Bulger’s from Windvogelberg. Mr. Rickard tells us that it is common
at Port Elizabeth, but is not quite so numerous at East London.
Mr. Ayres has procured it in Natal, where he says it frequents “■ both
the coast and interior streams.” Captain Shelley remarks that he
found it, during his recent trip to the the same country, “ invariably
frequenting the small streams and ditches close to Durban, where
however, it is not very abundant.” In the Transvaal Mr. Ayres has
found it breeding, and according to Mr. T. E. Buckley, it frequents
pools and streams throughout the latter country, but always singly.
According to Dr. Kirk it was universal “ on all the waters of the
Zambesi region, sitting on the reeds or bushes which overhang them,
and darting on its prey.” Mr. Andersson writes:—“ Probably from
want of permanently running rivers this exquisite little species is
not found in Damara or Great Namaqua Land, but it is common on
all the waters north of those countries.” Mr. Monteiro says it is
abundant at the Lagoons near Benguela, but at present Senor
Anchieta has not forwarded it from Mossamedes.
I t breeds in banks, and lays from four to six glistening white eggs,
so transparent that the yellow yoke shines plainly through the shell.
Axis, 9 " '; diameter, 6" 6 " '. The nest consists of nothing but the
bones of the delicate little fish upon which the bird habitually feeds,
and is usually constructed, if the constantly accumulating mass of
bones can be called a nest, at the end of a hole bored two or three
feet into loose sandy soil, and situated in a chamber always elevated
above the mouth of the hole; the drainage is thus perfect, the
chamber being always dry. We found several nests along the Berg
river in September.
Mr. Ayres says that in Natal, “ it feeds on fresh water shrimps and
small fish, but principally the former, as well as on beetles and insects,
darting from a bough on to its prey.”
The general colour of this little Kingfisher is of a rich ultramarine,
the cheeks, ear-coverts and under surface rufous; throat and a longitudinal
patch along the sides of the neck white. It may be told,
however, at a glance by its bright coral red bill and by its enormous