384 CORACIIFORMES chap. 



likened to " tit-it-it," or is loud and harsh ; it is most frequently 

 heard as the birds skim over the streams in the anxious time of 

 breeding, while the young have similar cries, and are very noisy 

 just before leaving the nest, which they render extremely foul. 

 The eggs are laid in holes in perpendicular river-banks, disused 

 gravel-pits and tlie like, or even in cavities in walls or rotten 

 stumps, the circular tunnel usually penetrating to a depth of 

 two or three feet, and forming an enlaro-ed terminal chamber. 

 The number of eggs varies from four to ten in different species ; 

 they are round, white, glossy, and thin-shelled, and look very 

 pink when they are fresh ; they usually lie on a bed of fish-bones, 

 consisting chiefly of vertebrae, not uncommonly deposited before 

 laying begins. Ceryle rudis is stated to make a nest of grass, 

 C. amazona one of sticks and straw, the former at times breeding 

 in colonies. The male has been known to assist in incubation, 

 which lasts a fortnight or more ; while two broods are occa- 

 sionally reared in the season, especially in warmer climates. 

 The Wood-Kingfishers prefer shady forest-regions, not necessarily 

 near water, but also frequent the vicinity of houses ; their food 

 consists of insects caught in the air, caterpillars, reptiles, frogs, 

 crustaceans, worms and molluscs, though they occasionally eat 

 fish. The nests, placed in holes in trees or banks, are said in 

 some cases to be of a few straws, dry leaves, or moss. The genus 

 Dacelo and its allies, including the largest forms of the Family, 

 are natives of Australia and New Guinea, where they often 

 inhabit very dry situations. They will even eat small mammals 

 or birds, bruising them before deglutition, and lay two or three 

 white eggs in holes in trees without any nest. The note is an 

 extraordinary loud gurgling or barking sound, from which they 

 are called " Laughing Jackasses." 



Kingfishers are difficult to keep in captivity, while hard frosts 

 cause much mortality, though the use of the feathers for artificial 

 flies or for ornament adds to the scarcity. The males are at times 

 very pugnacious. Many fables are connected with the Family ; 

 for instance, Ceyx and Alcyone were said to have been changed 

 by Zeus into Kingfishers, while Aeolus, father of Alcyone, kept 

 the weather calm in midwinter (the fourteen halcyon days), 

 when the birds formed a floating nest upon the deep. A dried 

 specimen, if hung up, was supposed to act as a weathercock with 

 its bill, as Shakespeare intimates. 



