154
WILLIAM MACNAE
bird, is common in the landward fringes of mangals in India. Various
subspecies of the green-backed heron Butorides striatus (L.) occur
throughout the Indo-west-Pacific and may be met with on the banks of
the mangrove channels. Ardea sumatrana Raffles is a large heron
typically found along mangrove creeks in South East Asia, the
Indonesian archipelago and Australia. A. cinerea L. may be seen in
similar situations in eastern and southern Africa and in western India.
The hammer-head Scopus umbrettus (Gm.) is often seen in African
mangals, and I have seen its huge nest in a bruguiera tree on one of
the distributaries of the Zambezi. Leptoptilos javanicus Horsf., the
lesser adjutant, is frequently seen along the shores of the Bay of
Bengal from the Sunderbans to Malaya.
Sea eagles replace one another round the Indian Ocean : Haliaetus
vocifer (Daudin) is common in the estuaries and mangal creeks in
eastern Africa and H . leucogaster (Lath.) replaces it to the eastwards.
The osprey Pandion haliaetus (L.) is cosmopolitan, but never very
common in any one locality. I n southern and eastern Asia through
Indonesia t o northern and eastern Australia the brahminy kite Haliastur
indus (Bodd.) is a scavenger and fisher, being especially common around
the towns and villages built in the mangals of Malaya. Species of
Ichthyophagus are common in Indonesia, where Schuster ( 1952) reports
that I. ichthyaetus may be troublesome t o farmers of fish and prawns
in Java. Abdulali (1965) confirms a statement made by Butler (1899)
that specimens of Spilornis cheela Hume, the serpent eagle, which had
fed on crabs from the mangal creeks and channels of the Andaman
islands, were usually paler in colour than were inland birds.
Kingfishers may be divided into two distinct groups according to
habit. The fishing species Ceryle maxima (Pallas) and Ceryle rudis (L.)
are widespread in eastern Africa, in mangals as elsewhere, the latter
species occurs as far east as Burma. Species of the brilliantly coloured
Alcedinae find good fishing along mangal creeks as well as streams and
rivers inland. Insectivorous or cancrivorous species may be restricted
to mangals. Halcyon senegaloides Smith is so restricted in eastern
Africa. On the other hand, H . chloris (Bodd.) in southern and southeast Asia, its subspecies sordidus (Gould) in Australia and Pelargopsis
capensis (Shaw) in South East Asia, are not restricted to mangals but
occur also in the maritime forest or scrub ; however, they never go far
from the sea.
It has recently been reported (Medway and Nisbet, 1965) that in
Malaya several species of wader may be found perching on the branches
of the mangroves in the seaward fringes during the high tide period
(Fig. 45). They scatter over the mud flats as soon as the tide has fallen
WILLIAM MACNAE
bird, is common in the landward fringes of mangals in India. Various
subspecies of the green-backed heron Butorides striatus (L.) occur
throughout the Indo-west-Pacific and may be met with on the banks of
the mangrove channels. Ardea sumatrana Raffles is a large heron
typically found along mangrove creeks in South East Asia, the
Indonesian archipelago and Australia. A. cinerea L. may be seen in
similar situations in eastern and southern Africa and in western India.
The hammer-head Scopus umbrettus (Gm.) is often seen in African
mangals, and I have seen its huge nest in a bruguiera tree on one of
the distributaries of the Zambezi. Leptoptilos javanicus Horsf., the
lesser adjutant, is frequently seen along the shores of the Bay of
Bengal from the Sunderbans to Malaya.
Sea eagles replace one another round the Indian Ocean : Haliaetus
vocifer (Daudin) is common in the estuaries and mangal creeks in
eastern Africa and H . leucogaster (Lath.) replaces it to the eastwards.
The osprey Pandion haliaetus (L.) is cosmopolitan, but never very
common in any one locality. I n southern and eastern Asia through
Indonesia t o northern and eastern Australia the brahminy kite Haliastur
indus (Bodd.) is a scavenger and fisher, being especially common around
the towns and villages built in the mangals of Malaya. Species of
Ichthyophagus are common in Indonesia, where Schuster ( 1952) reports
that I. ichthyaetus may be troublesome t o farmers of fish and prawns
in Java. Abdulali (1965) confirms a statement made by Butler (1899)
that specimens of Spilornis cheela Hume, the serpent eagle, which had
fed on crabs from the mangal creeks and channels of the Andaman
islands, were usually paler in colour than were inland birds.
Kingfishers may be divided into two distinct groups according to
habit. The fishing species Ceryle maxima (Pallas) and Ceryle rudis (L.)
are widespread in eastern Africa, in mangals as elsewhere, the latter
species occurs as far east as Burma. Species of the brilliantly coloured
Alcedinae find good fishing along mangal creeks as well as streams and
rivers inland. Insectivorous or cancrivorous species may be restricted
to mangals. Halcyon senegaloides Smith is so restricted in eastern
Africa. On the other hand, H . chloris (Bodd.) in southern and southeast Asia, its subspecies sordidus (Gould) in Australia and Pelargopsis
capensis (Shaw) in South East Asia, are not restricted to mangals but
occur also in the maritime forest or scrub ; however, they never go far
from the sea.
It has recently been reported (Medway and Nisbet, 1965) that in
Malaya several species of wader may be found perching on the branches
of the mangroves in the seaward fringes during the high tide period
(Fig. 45). They scatter over the mud flats as soon as the tide has fallen