382 CORACIIFORMES CHAP. 
covered with one scale; the marginal laminae of the tongue 
point backwards. 
Todies frequent hilly districts and woods, and especially the 
vicinity of ravines, being very active on their feet, and taking 
short rapid fights from branch to branch when disturbed. They 
used to be considered close allies of the Flycatchers, probably owing 
to their habit of darting out upon their prey from some branch, 
to which they return immediately. They sit with upturned bill 
and head drawn in, their wings vibrating and their plumage 
puffed out, and when thus perched they are so unsuspicious that 
they may sometimes be caught with a butterfly-net, or even with 
the hand. The pugnacious males chase each other, clattering 
their bills, and, while courting, ruffle themselves up and droop 
their wings. The three or four globular white eggs are laid in 
a hole low down in the face of some bank, which is excavated to 
a considerable depth and commonly 
EE turns at right angles; the terminal 
chamber usually containing a slight 
nest of fibres, grass,moss, or cotton. In 
captivity Todies make engaging pets. 
The coloration is green, with a 
bright red throat, yellowish-white 
or pinkish under parts, and yellow, 
ereen, or pink feathers on the 
flanks. The billis dullred.  Yodus 
viridis inhabits Jamaica; 7. subu- 
Fic. 79.—Tody. Todusviridis, x3, latus Hispaniola; 7. multicolor, 
which has a blue spot on each cheek, 
Cuba; 7. hypochondriacus Porto Rico. The length varies from 
three and a half to four and a half inches. 
Fam. III. Alcedinidae.—The Kingfishers, with the Sub- 
families (1) Halcyoninae, or Wood-Kinefishers, and (2) Alcedini- 
nae, or Water-Kinefishers, are remarkable not only for the aberrant 
species found among them, but also for their peculiar forms and 
particularly brilliant colours, at once strikingly contrasted and 
tasteful. The head looks disproportionately large, an appearance 
often heightened by the crest and the long, stout bill. This feature 
in the Alcedininae is compressed and sharp-pointed, with keeled 
culmen and upeurved genys; in the Halcyoninae it is broader 
and rounder, and sometimes grooved. In Syma the maxilla is 
