ms ALCEDINIDAE 383 
serrated, as in the Momotidae; in Carcineutes and Dacelo it 
exceeds the mandible, and in J/elidora it is hooked. The 
feeble metatarsi are scutellated or rarely reticulated; the third 
and fourth toes are joined for most of their length, the second 
and third for one joint, all being broad below; the claws are 
sharp and curved. Cey# and <Alcyone have the second digit 
aborted. The wings are short and rounded, yet powerful, the 
primaries being eleven in number, with the outer much reduced, 
the secondaries from eleven to fourteen; the tail is commonly 
abbreviated, but in Zanysiptera has a median pair of greatly 
elongated racquet-tipped feathers; that genus, moreover, possesses 
but ten rectrices instead of twelve. The furcula is U-shaped, 
the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial, there is no aftershaft, the adults 
are uniformly downy, the nestlngs are naked. The tongue is 
rudimentary, though said to shew an approach to that of the 
Motmots in Pelargopsis. The sexes may be similar or dissimilar, 
even in the same genus; the young are like their parents, or 
somewhat duller. The colours of the Family are most variable, 
a combination of blue, green, and chestnut being frequent, while 
almost uniform red, or black and white, are not uncommon; the 
beak may be black, red, yellow, or parti-coloured. About twenty 
genera, with some hundred and fifty species, occupy nearly the 
whole globe, though by far the greater number are found from 
Celebes to Papuasia, while Ceryle alone is American. 
The habits in the Family are as diverse as the styles of 
plumage. The Water-Kinefishers love shady haunts by quiet 
lowland streams, where the fishes which form their chief diet 
abound; in such situations they may be seen sitting patient and 
motionless on some favourite overhanging bough or projecting 
stone, from which they dart out like an arrow upon thei’ prey. 
If successful, they return immediately to their perch, on which 
they beat the fish before jerking it down the throat. At other 
times they hover over the water with vibrating pinions, or dive 
perpendicularly with closed wings. They are not, however, entirely 
piscivorous, but eat insects and small crustaceans, especially when 
they seek the sea-shore, as do several species of Huleyon, Alcedo. 
and Ceryle, including our native Kingfisher, chiefly towards winter. 
In tropical countries reeds and sugar-canes serve for perches. The 
flight is straight and quick, but not lone sustained; the note is 
either high-pitched, and of two or three syllables, which may be 
