A L C E D O A L C Y O N I D JE. 



being at least three inches in length. Its ground 

 colour is white, spotted with black. Both the eggs 

 and birds are rather rank and fishy ; but the northern 

 islanders, who run no inconsiderable hazards in ob- 

 taining the eggs, continue to employ them as food 

 after due seasoning. The nicety with which the eggs 

 of these and other sea birds are balanced on the 

 ledges of the rocks, has led authors to assume that the 

 birds have some means of cementing them ; but the 

 assumption needs no refutation. 



The Great Auk (A. impennis). This is a much 

 larger kind than the former ; much more rare in its 

 appearance, and obscure in its habits. It is sometimes 

 seen on the shores of the more remote Western Isles 

 of Scotland in the months of May and Jun^ but 

 not often then, and rarely indeed at any other season. 

 It is a large bird, being about the size of a goose ; but 

 it is naturally a water bird, and not adapted for pro- 

 gressive motion, either through the air or along the 

 earth. Its wings are only about four inches in length 

 each, and they have no feathers at all adapted for 

 flying, so that their principal use is in guiding its 

 course under water. Upon land the feet are riot much 

 more serviceable than the wings are in the air. The 

 bird cannot move, or even balance itself upon them, 

 without bringing the whole of the tarsi to the ground, 

 and thus it shuffles along in a very awkward manner, 

 flapping its wings, and wriggling. It can, by the help 

 of its bill which is very large, contrive to drag itself a 

 few yards above the level of the water ; but the ope- 

 ration is one of great apparent labour, and no little 

 time. In the water, however, it is " at home," and 

 dashes along with the ease and velocity of a fish. 



Great Auk. 



The bill is four inches and a half in the gape, and 

 more than one inch and a half in depth, much couched 

 in the culmen, or ridge of the upper mandible, strongly 

 and firmly made, and black ; it is thus an instrument 

 capable of catching a fish of considerable size. The 

 upper parts are mostly black on the cranium ; the 

 under, brown forwards, and white behind ; and the 

 presumption is, that it is subject to similar changes 

 from age and season as the common auk. 



The egg (there is but one) is not deposited on the 

 ledges, as in the former species, but in a hole of the 

 rock, or an excavated hole on the dry shore. The egg 

 is very lartre, not less than six inches in length, 

 similar in its colours to that of the common auk. The 



above figure -will give some idea of the general shape 

 of the bird. 



ALCEDO Kingfisher. A genus of birds of 

 which the characters are : bill long, straight, quad- 

 rangular, pointed at the tip, sharp in the tomia, 



Head of the Kingfisher. 



diminishing gradually to the pointed tip, and having 

 the height and breadth nearly equal throughout. The 

 nostrils basal, near the sides of the upper mandible, 

 and pierced obliquely. The tongue very short. The 

 whole organisation of the mouth adapted for fishing 

 rather than the capture of insects. Feet short and 

 weak, and not well adapted either for climbing or for 

 walking on the ground. The three front toes are 

 united at their bases, and the exterior one is as long 

 as the middle ; the tarsi are slender and short, and 

 the tibia lines a little above their articulations. The 

 foot can be used in scraping and excavating the earth, 

 but it is very awkward for progressive motion. Wings 

 long and powerful in their motions ; but the tail is 

 short, the birds regulating their course by their long 

 bill. The plumage is very smooth and glossy, not 

 easily ruffled or wetted by water. The nests are in 

 holes in the banks of those streams in which the 

 birds seek their food. They are solitary birds in their 

 habjts, so much so that the pair are not seen together 

 except during breeding time. They are not abun- 

 dant in any part of the world, and in most places they 

 are rare. Their variety, their quick motion, their 

 bright colours, their peculiar form, and the times at 

 which they are the most assiduous in their fishing, 

 have rendered them noted birds from very early 

 times. Those treacherous days of more than or- 

 dinary stillness and clearness of the air, which are 

 generally, if not always, followed by bad weather 

 have been called " halcyon days," because during 

 them the kingfishers are peculiarly active. The birds, 

 of course, know nothing of the coming storm ; but 

 that state of the waters when there is neither ripple 

 nor evaporation at the surface, renders the small fishes 

 on which the birds feed more discernible. There is 

 only one European species. See KINGFISHER. 



ALCYONID^E. An order of birds partaking in 

 part of the characters of the Anisodact.yli, or unequal 

 yoke-toed birds, and the Chelidonia, or swallow tribe. 

 They agree in part with the Syndactyli, or second 

 division of Cuvier's great order of Passeres ; but the 

 characters of that division are so varied, and in some 

 instances so irregular, and the feet (especially in the 

 Alct/onida' properly so called) form so very unimport- 

 ant a part of the whole character, that it is exceed- 

 ingly difficult to obtain any arrangement which is 

 either natural or satisfactory. See SYNDACTYLI. 



The Alcyonidce, properly so called, or " king-fisher" 

 birds, have the bill long cr of middle size, nearly 

 quadrangular in its section, and either straight or very 

 slightly arched. Their tarsi are short, and their feet 

 verv unfitted either for climbing or for walking ; and 

 K-2 



