KINGFISHER 



437 



wiiifT, of which, however, the first is extremely small ; and, except in 

 the Bornean racket-tailed kingfisher, twelve tail-feathers. Tlie true, or 

 common, kingfisher, together with its immediate relatives, is specially 

 characterised by the extreme shortness of the tail and the presence of 

 four toes to each foot. 



The geographical range of the kingfisher is very extensive, 

 embracing most of temperate Europe and the greater part of Asia, 

 inclusive of India, the Malay Archipelago, and Japan ; although these 

 birds are, of course, onh' to be met with in the neighbourhood of 

 water. There appear, however, to be two distinct races, namel}-, the 

 t)'pical European bird, which 



ranges as far east as Balu- WB^SMB^^K^K^^BltBtKli&!^^ ■. ^ 



chistan and Sind, and a 

 smaller form (A/cec/o ispida 

 bengaleiisis) inhabiting the 

 rest of south-eastern Asia, 

 intermediate forms connect- 

 ing the two. The northward 

 range of the kingfisher is, 

 of course, arbitrarily restricted 

 by temperature, as these birds 

 could not possibly exist in 

 districts where the streams 

 are fast bound in ice for a 

 considerable portion of the 

 year. ^Accordingly, the king- 

 fisher is generally found in 

 southern Scandinavia only as 

 an irregular visitor, and is 



quite unknown in the more northern parts of that region ; while in Russia 

 it is but seldom seen even so far north as St. Petersburg. Similarly, 

 these birds become much scarcer in the north of Scotland than is the 

 case farther south ; and while they occur from time to time in Skye 

 during the summer months, in the Outer Hebrides they appear to be 

 unknown. One instance of the breeding of the species in southern 

 Scandinavia is on record. In the more northern parts of Great Britain 

 it seems probable that the kingfishers wend their way southwards at the 

 approach of winter, but over a large portion of England many of these 

 birds are resident throughout the year ; and even those which leave 

 our shores for a warmer climate do not apparently travel farther south 

 than the Mediterranean countries. From many of their old English 



HE ROWLAND ' 



KINGKISHKK. 



