PICABJjE. 



KINGFISHER. 



443 



ALCEDIX1D+E. 



m. 





Alcedo ispida, Linnaeus". 



THE KINGFISHER. 



Alcedo ispida, 



Aloebo, Linnvusf. -Bill long, hard, straight, quadrangular and acute Nos- 

 trils basal, oblique, and nearly closed by a bare membrane. W nigs short and 

 rounded, of tea primaries, the second or third the longest, but the first nearly 

 equal to them and longer than the fourth. Tail very short, of twelve rectnces. 

 Tibi* bare below ; tarsi short ; toes three before, one behind, the middle un.td 

 to the outer toe as far as the second joint, and to the inner as far as the first joint , 

 hind toe not much shorter than the inner. 



The Kingfisher is one of the most beautiful of our birds, 

 bearing comparison with many brought from climates deemed 

 more favourable to the production of brilliant colours, and 

 is in consequence so much sought after by the idle and 

 thoughtless that its numbers, probably never very great m 



Svst. Nat. Ed, 12, i. p. ITS (1766). 



t Tom. rli. i>. 179. 



