KINGFISHERS. 47 



GENUS ALCEDO. (LiNN.) 



The beak in this genus is very straight, sharp, 

 compressed through its whole length, with the 

 gape ample ; the upper mandible is not at all 

 bent at the point. The wings are somewhat 

 rounded, the third quill being the longest. The 

 tail is very short, scarcely reaching beyond its 

 coverts. The feet are very weak; the outer and 

 middle toes united ; the inner and back toes very 

 short. 



The true Kingfishers, as their name implies, are 

 aquatic in their habits, resorting to the banks of 

 rivers, or to the sea-shore, where they watch for 

 the rise of small fishes to the surface. On these 

 they dart with the rapidity of a stone flung into 

 the water, and rarely fail to emerge with the 

 prey secured in the strong and sharp beak. They 

 breed in holes in cliffs, which they themselves 

 excavate; though sometimes they are said to 

 appropriate a hole already formed. The plumage 

 is blue or' green, often varied on the under parts 

 with red or chestnut. 



The common Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida, LINN.) 

 is well known, particularly in the southern part 

 of our island, wherever there is a secluded and 

 shaded stream. It is, as Sir William Jardine 

 observes, " one of our most gaily tinted birds, 

 and when darting down some wooded stream, and 

 shone upon at times by the sunbeams, it may give 

 some faint idea of the brilliant plumage that 

 sports in the forests of the tropics, and that flits 

 from place to place like so many lights in their 

 deeply shaded recesses." The plumage of the 



