The Half-Collared Kingfisher (Alcedo Semitorquata) at the Nest

Abstract

This is a widely distributed kingfisher, from the Eastern Cape Province to Angola and Abyssinia. about which little has been written. Everywhere it is a bird of streams rather than rivers and. at any rate in tropical Africa. only those of which the banks are thickly wooded. Exceptionally it occurs as low as 1.000 ft. above; sea-level even close to the Equator-I have seen i· ton a side branch of the lower Pangani River-but from 3,000'ft. upwards in the neighbouring Usambara Mountains it is resident on the small streams in the forest. These waters are remarkably deficient in native fish and. since these kingfishers, unlike Halcyon albiventris and lepidine picte, do not feed on dry land. they probably as a rule depend in part on the abundant crab and amphibian fauna for their food. One at Amani was seen to catch and eat a white butterfly, As others have remarked. the general habits of the Half-collared Kingfisher closely resemble those of the European bird: it has a similar swift direct: flight, high-pitched uninflected squeak and preference for nesting in holes close to water. In appearance it is an even more attractive bird. for the black bill accord! delightfully with the large silvery-white ear-patches and the exquisite blue of the upper parts. The alarm note is a loud.. spip-ip-ip-ip-peep". At Amani (aLt. 3,000 ft. as 1.. lat. 5· 30'S.) a pair of these kingfishers Is always present on a piece of water in the shape of a triangle, about 300 yards long and 100 yards in greatest width. formed by damming a small forest stream. At the upstream end, the pond fades into the swamp and there are