File:A monograph of the Alcedinidae (19646836819).jpg

It is now generally admitted that the old authors were in error when they assigned
Madagascar as the habitat of the present species. There can, indeed, be little doubt on this
point, and the discovery of its true habitat removes an obstacle which might, if not thus
summarily dispelled, have qualified very materially the conclusions we are now accustomed
to draw as to the zoological affinities of the fauna of Madagascar. Specimens of Halcyon
gularis are in many European museums from the Philippine Islands, to which locality I
believe the species to be confined. A bird is in Heine's Museum said to be from China, but
I have little doubt that the skin was imported from the Philippines.
The description and figures are taken from a specimen in my own collection. Mr.
Gould also possesses an example of the species obtained in the vicinity of Manilla, from
which the beautiful figure in the " Birds of Asia" Avas drawn.
Kittlitz procured both the- present species and Halcyon chloris in Luzon, and says that
in their habits the two birds exhibited some forcible differences. The latter, he states, lives
on Crustacea and is a constant denizen of the sea-shore. The present species, however, is
common wherever the shore is overgrown with trees, and is found right into the interior
even in the wooded mountains. Its food consists of large insects, lizards, and small
mammals, such as bats, &c. ; perhaps sometimes of fish, as the bird is often seen near fresh
water, where it takes the place of our European Kingfisher, although Kittlitz says that he
himself never found any remains of fish in the stomachs of those he killed. It also affects
woods and fields interspersed with high trees, where it lives solitary. Its flight and cry are
somewhat similar to those of Ceryle alcyon, but it does not jerk its tail like the latter bird,