GIANT KINGFISHER. 53 



supposed to lay from five or six to eight or nine 

 eggs, which in the European Kingfisher are of a 

 semitransparent white colour; the hole, or nest, 

 if it may properly be so named, being often deeply 

 lined at the bottom by a stratum of small fish 

 bones and scales. The flight of the Kingfishers is 

 horizontal, and remarkably rapid. 



The genus may be divided into long and short- 

 tailed species; those of the latter division having 

 that part extremely short, as in the Common 

 Kingfisher. 



LONG-TAILED KINGFISHERS. 



GIANT KINGFISHER. 



Alcedo gigantea. A. subcristatafusca, subtus albido nigroque un- 

 dulata, tectricibus alarum uropygioque subthalassinis, caudafas- 

 ciis Jiumerosis nigris. 



Slightly-crested brown Kingfisher, beneath whitish with black un- 

 dulations, the wing-coverts and rump pale sea-green, and the 

 tail crossed by numerous black bars. 



Alcedo gigantea. A. macroura subcristata, corpore oli-caceo-fusco 

 subtus albido nigricantefasciata, cau<!aferruginca nigroque fasci- 

 ata apice alba. Lath. ind. orn. 



Alcedo fusca. Lin. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 



Le plus grand Martin-pescheur. Buff. ois. PI. Enl. 663. 



Great brown Kingfisher. Lath. syn. White's Voy. p. 137 and 

 pi. oppos. 



THIS is by far the largest species hitherto dis- 

 covered, measuring about eighteen inches from the 

 tip of the bill to that of the tail. Its general d- 



