Amoor L an d (&“ ! ¥ ” ’ cind Schlegel), Ea ste rn Siberia (Badde),
o f e S Z Z t " “ " 7 " 7 “ ’® Kingfisher may be to o u r Common Kingfisher
W K r i s il T S .‘I™»* is specifically distin c t, and is easily d istinguishable
b y Its smaller size, lon g er b ill and th e more in ten se blue colouring o f th e ad u lt birds In
as n t r i a i r T *“ " Z 7 ® » % r f f e /u for, wherfas th is la s t-n am e l b i r f
IS as p a rtia l to s t a p a n t ponds aud brooks as to ru n n in g streams, its In d ian congener
a p p e ^ s to prefer th e la tte r and is seldom found in tlie v icinity o f stag n an t water
i n e m o st namstakino-vfispflroTipa f rro f-Tiq .-.i .® •
been
Zool
. . BCiuuiu luunu m e ot wi
The m o st p am s t a to g researches in to th e h istory o f the p resent species th a t I have
: able to find a re those pubUsbed b y Dr. L. von Schrenk in his celebrate,
nsrv At AmAAl» T.or»/l KiiF 1,^^p.., FA Í .s.x._j £•_J___,L_j.0 ..v1 uu ocu.reTuVK. m ms ceieorated work on the
? ? • iie iias unfo rtu n a te ly wasted h is energy in endeavourino- to
o f separating A . hengalensis from A . ispida, all the while adm ittin g ° tb e
distmotiOM o f genera l size and len g th o f bill, which are sufficient to separate i t as a
r e f s h t »? 'i° “ g ™ mjustice to Dr. von Schrenk, i f we do n o t give
th e substance o f h is a rg um en t m h is own words. We therefore transcribe from b is 7 o rk
th e following rem ark s which be ar upo n th e poin t in q u e s tio n :—
‘ T h ere is no d oubt th a t th e form o f A k ed o ispida, which since GmeHn’s tíme has by
m an y au th o rs been considered to be a d istin c t species u n d e r the name o i Alcedo bengalemis
to which also th e Jap an e se form belongs, is only a v a rie ty o f A . ispida. Our Amool
speomiens o f i&ngfishers, which ex a ctly agree with th e J ap an ese form, and which we have
compared w ith specimens o f A . ispida from th e A ltai, Caucasus, P e rsia and Western
Eu ro p e, oomfirm us m this opinion. • * • Even those Ornithologists who separate
A .h e n g a le r ^ from A . tspida, agree th a t in colour and mai-king th ere is no difference
between them. Our ^ o o r specunens agree so closely in in ten sity and distrib
u tio n o f colour w ith specimens from Western Europe, Caucasus, and Persia, th a t we can
observe n o t even a climatic difference. TJ.UhCe «ojlidu mmaailecss ifiruomm tthuee AAmmoooorr aa rree da iissttiinnggmuissbheedd
by an equally m ten se blue and green on th e u pper parts, and n o t less intense ru st-red on
th e u n d e r p a rts th an in b irds from th e above-mentioned localities. Compared w ith bo th an
a d u lt specimen from th e A lta i Mountains seems however much p aler, p articularly as regards
th e ru st-ro d o f th e u n d e r parts. In th e y o u n g bird s o f the Amoor, as in th e Eurmjean
species, the b lue-green o f th e u p p e r p a rts is less handsome and the ru st-re d on th e breast
dashed with a green ish -g rey tinge . A similar specimen we have in o u r museum from
J a p a n , received from lem m in ck , and i t agrees with th e y o u n g specimen from th e Amoor
i n th e fre shly-killed y o u n g from th e Amoor th e beak is blackish with a whitish tip, iris
brown, fee t yellowish-brown. ^ There is, however, a difference in the size o f o ur bird. Much
as all observers testify to its sim ila rity o f colours and markings to A . iwida, th ey equally
agree as to its smaller size and prop o rtio n ate ly longer bill. I t is indeed only in th is respect
th a t It differs, an d i t is on these charac te rs alone th a t A . hengalensis is founded.”
D r. v o n Schrenk th en riv e s a table o f measurements to shew the grad u al v ariation of
a series o f specimens o f A . hengalensis towards A . ispida, and even by this table i t is evident
th a t th e b ill o f th e la tte r species, when fu lly ad u lt, does n o t equal in len g th th a t o f the
y o u n g r i. hengalensis, an d he contends th a t all the arg um en ts b ro u g h t forward serve to
prove th a t A . hengalensis is only a small variety o f A . ispida. He then proceeds: —
“ K ittlitz states particu larly th a t A . hengalensis, as observed b y him a t Luzon, agreed
precisely in habits with A . ispida. N o r could we observe any difference in those we
o b s e rv e d in A m o o r L a n d , e i th e r in n o te , flig h t, o r c h o ic e o f ab o d e from A . * * *
Having identified A . ispida w ith A . hengalensis, and having found the la tte r on th e Amoor,
we largely increase its geographical range. Instead o f the former boundary to the east ^ve
can follow i t down to th e eastern end o f th e old World, and southwards th ro u g h India
and China to the Philippine and the Japanese Islands, no rthw ard s th ro u g h Siberia and the
Amoor to the Sea o f O chotsk. In Siberia i t was observed by Gmelin and Messerschmidt
only on the Torn, b y Pallas on the Jenessei, b u t n o t fu rth e r east. As we seav many on
the Upper and Lower Amoor, i t is probable th a t i t extends from Jenessei to th e Trans-
Baikal region.
“ In the Amoor Country th e extended willow thickets bordering the stream along its
various branches, and on the islands, offer th e best localities for breeding and procuring
food. As in these wilds th e noise o f th e oars does n o t d irectly frighten it away, i t is
often easily surprised by th e boat. P articularly in the wet rain y summer o f 1856, when
the rive r Amoor was very high, and when great numbers o f the Avillows h ung over tlie
water or had th e ir roots submerged, I observed th e Kingfisher plentifully from J u n e to
September, from th e village o f Y rri, on th e lower Amoor, to Albasin on the u pper p a rt of
the stream. * * * In fact, we observed i t all over th e Amoor to its moutli.”
H e rr Radde supplies some additional notes, as follows :—
“ He rr L. von Schrenk has already tre a ted very fully of th e Siberian bird, and shewn
its id en tity Avith the Bengalese variety o f A. ispida. I t only remains for me, therefore, to
say something o f my oAv n specimens. I must state th a t in the Trans-Baikal region, as also
on Lake Baikal, the Kingfisher is n o t rare, and th u s confirms A'on Shrenk’s supposition th a t
i t would be found to inhabit the country between Jenessei and Amoor Land. I observed i t
p re tty often on th e Central Onon, p articu larly a t the fork o f th e river w here the stream flows
slowly. Here i t was living a t th e end of'S eptemher, notwith stan d in g th a t d u rin g the
n iigghhtt iiccee w. as formed an inch thick on th e water. A female was also killed on th e 17th
o f M ay, 1858, on th^ Bureja Mountains.”
I give Dr. von Schrenk evei
every c red it for th e p rin s he h as taken, b u t I v en tu re to suggest
th a t the specimens measured b y him from Persia, &c., were indeed A . hengaleiwis and n o t
tru e A . ispida. I t is tru e I have never seen specimens from th e exact localities, b u t I
have seen a Central Asiatic specimen from th e vicinity o f Bokhara, and it Avas undoubtedly
tru e A . hengalensis. I t seems probable th a t the only specimen o f tru e A . hpida examined
b y th e worthy doctor was the German specimen o f Avhich h e adduces th e detailed measurements,
and which at once give him the characters o f a larg er size b u t smaller beak. I
m u st. fz.u rt. h1 e r remi• nd1 TDX r. vo n Sch re n 1k_ jt_Th__a tL TKJ”i! —n gfishne.r»s— , especialTl.y.T thFlomse.e.T o f +t Iht ea g.r-ertnx.u.. so AAlcedo,
are a considerable time in gaining th eir ad u lt size and plumage, and th a t i t is thereiore.
hardly fair to compai'e young bii’ds of one species ivith old bird s of another in the same
tab u lar diagram.
Professor Reichenbach has separated Alceds hengalensis in to two races, which he calls
respectively A . indica, from the continent of In d ia and th e Tenasserim provinces, and A .
sondaica, from J av a, Sumatra, Borneo, Malacca, and Ceylon. These races are supposed to
present differences in size, b u t scarcely any evidence to tins effect is b ro u g h t forward. I
may s ta te th a t in p reparing th e present ai-ticle I have carefully examined m ore th an one h u n dred
specimens of the p resent species, with the folloiving resu lt. ^ T.aldiig the In d ia n b ird as
the normal form, 1 do n o t find any positive distinction between i t luid the Chinese o r J a p a nese
bird (A . japónica. Bp.), alth o u g h the la tte r docs appeal- to be somewhat more green in
tin t th an those from the continent o f Asia. I have, hoivever, n o t examined a sufficiently
large series to be q u ite sure on this point, w-hile Dr. von Schrenk plainly states th a t th ere is
no difference. I cannot, moreover, find th a t the bird from the Indo-Malayan sub-region is
t y ' : ' !
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