COMMON KINGFISHER. 89 



aa ounce and quarter: its shape is not elegant, 

 the body being of a heavy form, the head large, 

 the bill Jong, and the legs very short: the parti- 

 cular distribution of colours on the Kingfisher may 

 be thus described : the upper mandible is blackish, 

 the lower orange-coloured or reddish : the crown 

 of the head very dark green, crossed or undulated 

 by numerous short, transverse, bright-blue streaks : 

 the shoulders and whole wings of the same dark- 

 green colour, but the edges of the quill-feathers 

 glossed with pale blue, and the shoulders marked 

 by numerous small spots of the same colour: from 

 the neck, down the middle of the back to the tail, 

 passes a broad stripe of the most brilliant pale 

 blue, formed of fine long-fibred feathers: the tail 

 is very short, and of a deep blue colour: on each 

 side the head, between the bill and eye, is a small 

 rufous spot: from the corners of the lower man- 

 dible on each side is a dark green stripe, crossed 

 by numerous blue undulations, like the crpwn of 

 the head: above this, on each side, beyond the 

 eye is an oblong orange streak, and behind this a 

 white one: the throat is white to a small distance, 

 but soon becomes tinctured with rufous or orange- 

 colour, which possesses the whole remainder of the 

 lower part of the body: the irides and legs are red: 

 the claws black. The male and female bear an ex- 

 treme resemblance to each other. 



The Kingfisher builds, or at least deposits its 

 eggs, in the banks either of rivers or stagnant 

 waters, the eggs being generally from five to seven 

 or nine in number. This bird is supposed to be 



