THE KINGFISHERS. 



63 



eating Kingfishers, there are several which have a short tail 

 like the true AkedinincB^ and yet live in forests and never feed 

 on fish. 



The palate is bridged, or desmognathous ; there are no 

 basipterygoid processes ; the hallux, or first hind-toe, is con- 

 nected with the flexor perforaiis digitoriiin^ and the sole of 



'm.pl.j). Jib, 



Ventral aspect of the bill of the Giant Kingfisher {Dacelo gigas), to show 

 the desmognathous palate. [From the Catalogue jf Osteological Specimens 

 in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.] Letters as before. 



the foot is flat, the front toes being ui.ited together for the 

 greater part of their extent — hence the birds are Anisodactyle. 



The eggs are white and hidden from sight, as with other 

 Picarian Birds, being mostly deposited in the hole of a bank or 

 tree. The young are hatched naked, but the feathers are 

 developed in well-marked lines or " tracts," and are for a long 

 time enclosed in the sheath, imparting a singularly bristly 

 appearance to the nestling (see p. 34). 



Of the Insect-eating Kingfishers, of which we have no re- 

 presentatives in the northern parts of the world, the nearest 

 allies to our own Kingfisher are the African genus Ispidhia^ 

 and the Indian and Moluccan genus Ceyx^ the latter having only 

 three toes. The large genus Haley 071^ consisting of bush- and 

 forest-frequenting birds, is widely spread over Africa, India, 



