224 THE COMMON KINGFISHER. 



Genus, Alcedo. Linn. 



Kingfisher, Generic Features. 



Bill long, straight, quadrangular, higher than broad ; thick 

 and pointed ; both mandibles tapering to the point of the bill, 

 which is longer than the head. The smallness and weakness 

 of their feet unfit them from walking, so that they merely take 

 a station, from which they dart upon their prey, or to which 

 they return after an extended flight, and well deserve the 

 specific name of " darters." Their wings are short, or of 

 moderate length, but of great breadth ; and their flight, 

 although seldom buoyant, is always rapid. In the form of 

 their feet the bee-eaters agree with the kingfishers, and their 

 bill is very similar, although somewhat arched. Their wings 

 differ only in their primaries being longer. 



The Common Kingfisher, or Halcyon Kingfisher. 

 (Alcedo Ipsida.) Linn. 



" With pride the water multiplies 

 The flitting halcyon's vivid dyes." — Wordsworth. 



In describing this group of birds, which have the bee-eater 

 at the one end of the circle and the kingfisher at the other, 

 we can scarcely fancy birds more unlike than the swifts and 

 goatsuckers, and the common kingfisher. The extreme length 

 of wings and tail, and as extreme shortness of bill on the one 

 hand, and the short, broad wings and stunted tail, and extreme 

 length of bill on the other, show the wonderful adaptation of 

 Nature to the particular end she has in view — for all are insect 

 feeders, and yet how different from the easy, rapid evolutions 

 of the one, and the direct arrow-like straightness of flight of 

 the other. With the exception of being birds, and covered 

 with feathers, having wings, bills, and feet, one would suppose 

 they had no kith nor kin together ; which shows the wisdom 

 of discarding all hard and fast lines of grouping birds iuto 

 families, and the propriety of describing each species indi- 

 vidually in the varied, yet perfect, group and order of Nature. 



