64 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



China, and extends even to Australia and Oceania. One 

 species, Halcyon smyrnensis, even reaches Asia Minor and Pales- 

 tine. The beautiful Racket-tailed Kingfishers (Tanysipteni) are 

 forest-haunting birds, feeding chiefly on insects, and having 

 long tails like a Bee-Eater or a Racket-tailed Parrot (Prioni- 

 turus\ while the largest of all Kingfishers are the Giants or 

 " Laughing Jackasses" of Australia. These birds feed mostly 

 on reptiles. 



THE TRUE KINGFISHERS. FAMILY 

 ALCEDINID^:. 



The Kingfishers constitute in fact a single Family, co-equal 

 with the Sub-order Halcyones, and consequently the characters 

 of the latter are the same as those of the Family Alcedinidce. It 

 is divided into two Sub-families, which are not very strongly 

 characterised, but they may be separated more by their habits 

 than by any structural features. Thus they are divided into 

 Alcedinince and Dacelonince, the latter Sub-family not concern- 

 ing us here, as no member of it reaches the British Islands. 



THE FISH-EATING KINGFISHERS. SUB-FAMILY 

 ALCEDININ^E. 



The Kingfishers of this Sub-family are mostly of the type of 

 the British species, Alcedo ispida, which is mainly a piscivorous 

 bird, but it likewise embraces the genus Ceryle, of which the 

 Belted Kingfisher is the type, as well as the Stork-billed King- 

 fishers (Pelargopsis] of Asia, the Crested Kingfishers (Cory- 

 thornis) of Africa, and the Three-toed Kingfishers (Alcyone) of 

 Australia and Malaisia. All of these birds have a narrow, com- 

 pressed bill, very long and thin, and are almost entirely fish- 

 eaters. 



THE BANDED KINGFISHERS. GENUS CERYLE. 



Ceryle, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 316. 



Type, Ceryle rudis (L.). 



The species of this genus are found throughout the New 

 World, as well as in Africa, Asia Minor, and the greater part 





