KING-FISHERS. 485 



a tree, it swallows it head foremost. When fish is scarce it 

 feeds also upon aquatic insects, which it seizes on the wing. 

 Its aerial movements are rapid and direct, but weakly main- 

 tained, being performed by a series of quick, jerking beats of 

 the wings, generally close to the surface : the action of the 

 wings is so rapid as to be scarcely perceptible. The short tarsi 

 render the King-fisher a bad walker. 



The King-fisher is a solitary bird, living generally in secluded 



Fig. 201. King-fishers (Alcedo ispida, Linn.}. 



places, and is rarely seen even with birds of its own species, 

 except in the pairing season. Like the Todies, they build their 

 nests in the steep banks of rivers, either in the natural crevices, 

 or in holes hollowed out by water rats ; and these dwelling- 

 places are generally disfigured by the fragments of their repast. 

 Father and mother sit alternately, and when the young are 

 hatched they feed them with the produce of their fishing. The 

 bird has a shrill and piercing note, which it utters on the wing. 

 Their flesh is very disagreeable. 



The King-fisher is the Halcyon of the ancients, who attributed 

 to it after death the power of indicating the winds. The 

 seven days before and the seven days after the winter solstice 

 were the Halcyon days, during which the bird was supposed to 



