ALCEDINID, KINGFISHERS.—GEN. 112. 187 
112. Genus MOMOTUS Lesson. 
Blue-headed Sawbill. Greenish, rather paler below ; purer on wings and 
tail; the crested crown blue, encircled with black; face mostly black. 15; 
ming 54. Mexico. Bp., 161, pl.46. ... . . . . . C#RULEICEPS. 
Family ALCEDINIDA. Kingfishers. 
Feet syndactyle by cohesion of third and fourth toes; tomia simple. Bill long, 
large, straight, acute (rarely hooked), ‘ fissirostral,” the gape being deep and wide ; 
tongue rudimentary or very small; nostrils basal, 
reached by the frontal feathers. Feet very small and 
weak, scarcely or not ambulatorial; tarsi extremely 
short, reticulate in front; hallux short, flattened 
underneath, its sole more or less continuous with the 
sole of the inner toe; soles of outer and middle toe 
in common for at least half their length; inner toe 
always short, in one genus rudimentary, in another wanting (an abnormal modifica- 
tion, overlooked in penning § 86, p. 49 ; but see § 84) ; wings long, of 10 primaries ; 
tail of 12 rectrices, variable in shape. 
“The kinefishers form a very natural family of the great Picarian order, and are 
alike remarkable for their brilliant coloration and for the variety of curious and 
aberrant forms which are included within their number. . . ‘Their characteristic 
habit is to sit motionless watching for their prey, to dart after it and seize it on 
the wing, and to return to their original position to swallow it... . The Alced- 
inide nest in holes and lay white eggs. It is, however, to be remarked that, in 
accordance with a modification of the habits of the various genera, a corresponding 
modification has taken place in the mode of nidification, the piscivorous section 
of the family nesting for the most part in holes in the banks of streams, while the 
insectivorous section of the family generally nest in the holes of trees, not neces- 
sarily in the vicinity of water.” (Suarpe.) 
The nearest allies of the kingfishers are considered to be the hornbills and bee- 
eaters of the Old World, and the sawbills and todies of the New. One would gain 
an imperfect or erroneous idea of the family to judge of it by the American fragment, 
of one genus and six or eight species. According to the author of the splendid 
monograph just cited, there are in all 125 species, belonging to 19 genera; the 
latter appear to be very judiciously handled, but a moderate reduction of the former 
will be required. They are very unequally distributed; Ceryle alone is nearly 
cosmopolitan, absent only from the Australian region; the northern portion of the 
Old World has only 2 peculiar species; 3 genera and 24 species are characteristic 
of the Ethiopian region, one genus and 25 species are confined to the Indian, while 
no less than 10 genera and 59 species are peculiar to the Australian. Mr. Sharpe 
recognizes two subfamilies; in the Dacelonince (with 14 genera, and 84 species) 
the bill is more or less depressed with smooth, rounded or sulcate, culmen. In the 
Fic. 122. Syndactyle foot. 
Subfamily ALCEDININA, 
the bill is compressed, with carinate culmen. The American species all belong here. 
It is the more particularly piscivorous section; the Dacelonine feed for the most 
part upon insects, reptiles, and land mollusks. 
