390 COMMON KING FISHER. 



than its covers; feet syndactyle, inner toe 



and hallux very short, tarsus short. 

 Types. A. ispida, semitorquata, Sfc. 

 Note. Aquatic ; plumage blue or green, varied 



on the under parts with chestnut ; breed in 



holes. 

 Europe, Asia, Africa. 



COMMON KING FISHER. 



Alcedo ispida. LINNAEUS. 

 PLATE XXVI. 



Alcedo ispida, King Fisher, Will. Linn. Common King 

 Fisher of British authors. 



The King Fisher is one of our most gaily 

 tinted birds, and when darting down some wooded 

 stream, and shone upon at times by the sunbeams, 

 it may give some faint idea of the brilliant plum- 

 age that sports in the forests of the tropics, and 

 that flits from place to place like so many lights 

 in their deeply shaded recesses. It is a bird by 

 no means common any where, living in retired 

 places, solitary or in pairs ; but it seems pretty 

 evenly distributed, decreasing in frequency as we 

 reach the north, where it also becomes station- 

 ary only in winter, instances of its breeding 

 having been very seldom recorded beyond the 

 English border, or the south of Scotland. It 



