Zoological Illustrations/VolIII-Pl151
ALCEDO semitorquata,
Half-collared Kingsfisher.
Generic Character.—See Pl. 26.
Specific Character.
- A. cæruleo-viridis, infrà ochracea; capite cyaneo, lineis nigris transversis ornato; dorso nitidè cæruleo; pectore torque cæruleo-viridi interrupto insigni.
- Bluish green, beneath buff colour; head blue, with transverse black lines; back shining light blue; breast with an interrupted blue-green collar.
In a small collection of birds, procured on the borders of the Great Fish River of the Cape, I met with this new and elegant Kingsfisher. I was fortunate in detecting in the same parcel several other unknown and interesting birds; which I hope to record and illustrate in this work, particularly as they have since been sent to a foreign museum. This species considerably exceeds the size of the Asiatic Kingsfisher, being nearly eight inches and a half long: the bill is black, two inches from the gape, and one and three quarters from the base of the nostrils: head blue, the crown crossed by dusky black lines; hind head somewhat crested, the sides deep and rich mazarine blue; ears and sides of the neck greenish blue, the latter having a stripe of white; the blue on the sides of the neck advances on the breast in the shape of a half-formed collar: wings and scapula covers bluish green, with lighter spots on the tip of each of the wing covers; down the back is a stripe of vivid light blue, similar to the common Kingsfisher: tail dark-blue, edged with greenish, the base black. The plumage beneath, from the chin to the end of the throat, white; changing on the breast to pale fawn colour, which deepens to ferruginous on the body, under tail covers, and thighs: legs red: between the bill and eye a dusky white line.