XX. SYSTEMATIC AEEANGEMENT 



Family IT. Alcedinid^. 



(kingfishers.) 



Beak long, stout, and pointed, with angular sides ; feet small and 

 feeble, the outer and middle toes united to the last joint ; wings 

 rounded and hollow, ill adapted for protracted flight ; form robust, 

 with a large head and usually a short tail. Predatory birds, feeding 

 on fish, insects, and even reptiles, birds, and small quadrupeds. 

 Scattered over the world, but Australia and South America contain 

 the greatest number of species. 



62. Alcedo (Kingfisher). Beak long, straight, quadrangular, 

 sharp ; wings short, with the third primary the longest ; tail very 

 short. Page 268. 



Family III. HiEUNDiNiDiG. 



(swallows. ) 



Beak short but broad, and more or less flattened horizontally ; 

 mouth very deeply cleft ; feet small and weak ; wings long and 

 powerful, and thus adapted for sustaining a protracted flight in pur- 

 suit of winged insects, which form the sole sustenance of these 

 birds ; tail long and usually forked ; plumage close, smooth, often 

 burnished with a metallic gloss. Migratory birds, spending the 

 summer in temperate climates, but being impatient of cold, with- 

 drawing in winter to equatorial regions.^' 



63. HmuNDO (Swallow, Martin). Beak short, flattened hori- 

 zontally, and very wide at the base ; upper mandible keeled and 

 curved downwards at the point ; toes slender, three in front, one 

 behind ; claws curved ; wings long and pointed, the first primary 

 longest. Page 271. 



64. CfPSELUS (Swift). Beak very short, flattened horizontally, 

 triangular ; upper mandible curved downwards at the point ; gape 

 extending beyond the eyes ; legs very short ; toes all directed for- 

 wards ; wings extremely long ; first primary a little shorter than 

 the second. Page 285. 



Family IV. Capeimulgid^. 



(goatsuckers.) 



The beak in this family resembles that of the Swallows, but is 

 shorter and weaker ; the gape is enormous, and its sides are, for the 

 most part, furnished with long and stiff" bristles, which point for- 

 wards ; the wings are long, and formed for powerful flight ; the feet 

 are small, and feathered to the toes ; plumage soft and downy, and 

 beautifully mottled with black, brown, grey, and white ; the claw 

 of the middle toe is dilated on one side, and toothed like a comb. 

 Nocturnal birds, feeding on large insects, which they capture in their 

 flight. 



* Gosse's Natural History, Birds, p. 36. 



