450 THE KINGFISHER 



foot, opposed to which is a short hind toe. This makes an admirable 

 grasping foot, but walking and swimming alike are impossible. But 

 we must be careful in generalising. Were this the only kingfisher 

 known to us, we should regard its peculiarities of beak and feet as 

 alone the result of adaptation to this semi-aquatic life. But there are 

 other kingfishers, in other parts of the world, which are not aquatic, 

 which, indeed, live remote from water, and prey upon insects, reptiles, 

 and small mammalia. These have the same peculiarities of beak and 

 feet. Hence the adaptation to an aquatic, or sub-aquatic life, of 

 which we have spoken, is rather enforced by physiological than by 

 structural modifications. Of these insect and reptile-eating king- 

 fishers, however, some show changes in the form of the beak which 

 are apparently the results of adaptation to secure special advantages. 

 In one direction the beak has developed a hook at the tip, as in 

 Melidora ; in another, Syma, it is serrated along the cutting edge, as in 

 the motmots to which the kingfishers appear to be related ; while in 

 yet another, Clytoceyx rex, the beak is short, swollen, and of great width, 

 recalling that of the boatbills and the shoebill stork (Balceniceps), 

 Neither is the remarkably short tail, so characteristic of our kingfisher, 

 to be regarded as one of the " hall-marks " of the kingfisher tribe, for 

 in some species, as in the belted kingfisher, it is long, while in the 

 beautiful Tanysipteras the two central feathers are prolonged to form 

 long " racquets." 



Most of us, perhaps, take but little account of the fact that our 

 kingfisher is but one of a large family, presenting a very striking 

 diversity in point of size, and a still more striking diversity in colora- 

 tion. Yet these facts ought to be kept in mind, for thereby we shall 

 the more readily appreciate the peculiarities of our own bird. Indeed, 

 with this wider outlook much that now mystifies may become clear. 

 As to size, it shall suffice to remark that the smallest of the King- 

 fishers is Myioceyx lecontii, 3f inches ; while the largest, a veritable 

 giant, is the laughing jackass of Australia, which attains a length of 

 17 inches. 



