Kingfishers (Alcedinidae)

Brown-hooded Kingfisher (Halcyon albiventris) - HBW 6, p. 210

French: Martin-chasseur à tête brune German: Braunkopfliest Spanish: Alción Cabecipardo
Other common names: Brown-headed Kingfisher

Taxonomy: Alcedo albiventris Scopoli, 1786, Cape of Good Hope.
W populations described as a separate race, hylophyla, on basis of slightly darker coloration, but considered insufficiently distinct from prentissgrayi; population from S Somalia and NE Kenya described as race erlangeri, but apparently indistinguishable from orientalis. Four subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

prentissgrayi Bowen, 1930 - E Gabon, S Congo, SW Zaire, W Angola and S Kenya, WC Tanzania to N Zambia.
orientalis W. K. H. Peters, 1868 - coastal lowlands from S Somalia to Mozambique, inland to Malawi, S Zambia, Zimbabwe and N Botswana.
vociferans Clancey, 1952 - E Botswana E to S Mozambique, S to Orange Free State and Natal.
albiventris (Scopoli, 1786) - Natal to SW Cape Province; migrates to S Zimbabwe.