PICARIjE. 



KINGFISHER. 



443 



ALCEDINID^. 



^^d j(i-^rx_ 



Alcedo ispida, Linnaeus*. 



THE KINGFISHER. 



Alcedo ispida, 



Alcedo, Linnceusf. — Bill long, hard, straight, quadrangular, and acute. Nos- 

 trils basal, oblique, and nearly closed by a bare membrane. Wings 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 rectrices. 

 Tibiae bare below ; tarsi short ; toes three before, one behind, the middle united 

 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 Kjngfisher is one of the most beautiful of our birds, 

 bearing comparison with many brought from cHraates 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 in 



Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 178 (1766). 



+ Tom. cit. p. 179. 



