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XII. JACULATORES. DARTERS, 



The Fissirostral Birds of authors form an extremely hetero- 

 geneous association, as will be apparent to the student who 

 places before him skins of a Bee- eater, a Kingfisher, a Jacamar, 

 a Swallow, a Swift, a Goatsucker, and a Roller, these birds 

 scarcely agreeing in any other character than that of having 

 very small feet, which however differ in several respects. The 

 Swallows, Swifts, and Goatsuckers, I have referred to an order 

 apart ; the Rollers I have placed among the Excursores ; and 

 there now remain to be arranged the Kingfishers and those 

 genera closely allied to them. With our common European 

 Kingfisher, we find a great number of birds in Africa, Asia, 

 and America, that agree in form and habits, constituting the 

 genus Alcedo, characterized by its long, straight, four-sided, 

 compressed, and pointed bill, and very diminutive feet, of 

 which the anterior toes are more or less coherent or syndactyle. 

 Other birds very similar, but having the bill much stouter, 

 form the genera Halcyon, and Dacelo, which are said to differ 

 from the Alcedines in not plunging into water, to capture 

 small fishes. The feebleness of the feet of these birds incapaci- 

 tates them from walking or hopping, so that they merely as- 

 sume a station, whence to dart upon their prey, or to which 

 they return after an extended flight. Their wings are short or 

 of moderate length, but always of great breadth ; and their 

 flight, although seldom buoyant, is always rapid. In the form 

 of their feet, the Bee-eaters agree with the Kingfishers; their 



