a0 
so uncertain are its visits, that years may elapse without an ex- 
ample being seen. It is common, and breeds, in Spain, where it 
deposits its eggs in holes of sandbanks. 
Family ALCEDINIDZ. 
The distribution of the Kingfishers may be said to be almost 
universal; but of the 125 species described, few are to be found 
in the New World, the family being very feebly represented in 
America. The various species have been much subdivided and 
received many generic appellations, their structure being as diverse 
as their modes of life and the kinds of food upon which they 
subsist. Water is by no means essential to the existence of many 
of them, especially those which dwell amidst the scorize of voleanoes 
and on hot and parched plains,—lizards and insects being the food 
of those affecting the former situations, while the huge Dacelos (fre- 
quenting the latter) eat snakes, small. quadrupeds, and insects. Fish 
appears to be the chief food of the members of the restricted genus 
Alcedo, of which our well-known Kingfisher is the type. 
Genus ALCEDO. 
SiC ATCEDOMISHIDA Seo B.S ee cele” eee Viol RI exe 
KINGFISHER. 
A resident species ; common in all the central portion of England, 
more scarce in Scotland, and not a common bird in Ireland. Feeds 
on fish, crustaceans, and insects. It is the only species which 
habitually lives in Britain and on the continent of Europe, beyond 
which its range is not very far extended. Other species of this form 
inhabit India, some of its islands, and Africa. 
Genus CERYLE. 
A group of Kingfishers, of about a dozen or fifteen species. 
58. CERYLE ALCYON. 
This American bird has been twice killed in Ireland—once in 
the county of Meath in October 1845, and again in the county of 
Wicklow in November of the same year (Thompson, ‘ Natural History 
of Ireland, Birds,’ vol. i. p. 373). These Transatlantic birds must 
be regarded as interlopers, since they have no just claims to a place 
in our fauna. 
Family CORACHDA. 
No member of this family has yet been seen in the New World ; 
and the Old may claim the form as one of its finest ornithological 
