128 THE STORY OF THE BIRDS 



Oriental and Ethiopian Regions (one very 

 abnormal species constituting the sub -family 

 Leptosomatinae being restricted to Madagascar), 

 but extend into the temperate parts of the 

 Palaearctic Region, and are also found in the 

 Australian Region. One species is curiously 

 isolated on the island of Celebes. The Motmots 

 and Todies (Momotidae) are a small group of 

 American birds, the range of the former extend- 

 ing from Mexico and the Antilles to Paraguay, 

 that of the latter restricted to the greater Antilles. 

 The Kingfishers (Alcedinidae), although as a 

 family very universally distributed, are not only 

 localised but unevenly dispersed. The present 

 headquarters of the Kingfisher family are in 

 the eastern portions of the Malay Archipelago, 

 an area specially remarkable for the number of 

 peculiar forms of these birds that occupy it. It is 

 also a remarkable and interesting fact that but one 

 genus of Kingfisher is represented in the New 

 World, and that by a single species, although 

 this vast region is apparently so well adapted 

 to the requirements of these birds. In the Old 

 World the Palaearctic Region is the poorest in 

 species, as the AustraUan Region is the richest, 

 although the family is well represented in the 

 Ethiopian and Oriental Regions. The genera, 



