226 KINGFISHERS. 



them, at which they immediately dart, returning again to the identical twig 

 they had just left, and which they will sometimes frequent for months. At 

 such times the disproportionate size of their head is rendered more con- 

 spicuous by tlic bird raising its feathers so as to appear not unlike a puff-ball; 

 hence the general name they have received from the English residents in 

 Brazil, of which vast country all the species are natives. When frightened 

 their shape becomes suddenly changed by all the feathers at once being laid 

 quite Hat. They are very confiding, and will often take their station within a 

 few yards of the window from which you are watching them. The males and 

 females generally keep near each other, often on the same tree.'"' 



The type of this sub-family is — 



The Variegated PufF-Bird {Bucco versicolor). 



Sitb-Faviily II. 

 THE CRAB-HUNTERS. HALCYONIN^.* 



General Characteristics. — Bill broad at the base, and gradually compressed 

 towards the tip, the lateral margins straight or turned upwards towards the end of 

 the upper mandible; the gonys lengthened and gradually ascending, or curved 

 upwards to the tip of the lower mandible. 



These birds are very widely distributed ; they occur in India 

 and its Archipelago, in Africa, Australia, and the islands of the 

 South Sea. They generally reside in open forests and in jungles, 

 by the sides of rivers and brooks ; some species, however, are rarely 

 observed in the vicinity of water, while others frequent cultivated 

 places and plains. They will often sit for a long time on a pole 

 or the lower branch of a tree, watching the space around for the 

 appearance of small reptiles, fishes, crabs, or insects, from all of 

 which they derive their subsistence ; some species examine the 

 flowers of the cocoa-nut for insects contained within them. Their 

 nest is built in the hollow trunk of a tl-ec, and the eggs are usually 

 three or four in number. 



One of the best-known species belonging to this sub-family is — 



The Gigantic Kingfisher {Dace/of gigas). This remarkable bird is 

 not uncommon among the wooded mountain districts in many parts of the 



* oKKvdiv, halcyon, Ihc kingfisher, from aXs, hals, the sea, and kvui, kuo, to conceive: so 



called because the kingfisher was said by the ancients to hatch its eggs upon the sea. 



f A fanciful name, made by transposing the letters of the word Alcedo. 



