298 



PASSERES. BIRDS. ALCEDINID.E. 



length, exclusive of the bill. The feathers of the upper 

 parts are white, marked with black spots of various 

 forms; the lower parts are pure white, with a deep 

 black collar below the base of the neck; the wings are 

 black, with the feathers bordered with white, and the 

 feathers of the jail are also varied with black and white. 

 This species, which is rendered elegant by the vivid 

 contrast of its pied plumage, differs somewhat in its 

 habits from the preceding kingfishers; for instead of 

 watching for its prey from ix fixed station, it hovers 

 over the surface of the water and darts down perpen- 

 dicularly when its victim comes within sight. Dr. 

 Pearson says " From a height of twenty to thirty feet 

 it plunges down, dead as a stone, to the water, and 

 remains below it so long that the ripple over the sur- 

 face clears away sometimes before it comes up again." 

 This bird, like the preceding, breeds in holes in steep 

 banks. 



THE GREAT AFRICAN KINGFISHER (Ceryle maxi- 

 ma], one of the largest species of the present family, is 

 an inhabitant of the western part of tropical Africa. 

 The general colour of the whole back, including the 

 wings, is lead grey, but the wings are covered with 

 numerous white spots; the tail feathers are blackish, 

 with a row of seven white spots on each ; the crest of 

 rather long feathers with which the head is adorned 

 is black; the lower surface is white, with numerous 

 blackish spots on the flanks, and a broad pale brown 

 band across the chest; the sides of the throat and 

 cheeks are also marked with lines of small black spots. 

 The whole length of this fine bird is about fifteen 

 inches; in its habits it resembles the preceding species. 



THE BELTED KINGFISHER (Ceryle Alcyon}. Be- 

 sides the preceding species and some others inhabiting 

 the eastern hemisphere, the genus Ceryle includes some 

 American birds, amongst which the Belted Kingfisher 

 is the best known. It is an abundant species in most 

 parts of the United States. In its colours it much 

 resembles the preceding species, but is readily distin- 

 guished by its having a broad collar of white round the 

 neck. It is also smaller in size, measuring only about 

 twelve inches and a half in length. 



Wilson's account of the habits of this bird is as 

 follows : " Like the love-lorn swains of whom poets 

 tell us," says the great American ornithologist, "he 

 delights in murmuring streams and falling waters ; not, 

 however, merely that they may sooth his ear, but for a 

 gratification somewhat more substantial. Amidst the 

 roar of the cataract, or over the foam of a torrent, he 

 sits perched upon an overhanging bough, glancing his 

 piercing eye in every direction below for his scaly prey, 

 which, with a sadden circular plunge, he sweeps from 

 their native element, and swallows in an instant. His 

 voice, which is not unlike the twirling of a watchman's 

 rattle, is naturally loud, harsh, and sudden ; but is 

 softened by the sound of the brawling streams and cas- 

 cades among which he generally rambles. He courses 

 along the windings of the brook or river, at a snail 

 height above the surface, sometimes suspending himself 

 by the rapid action of his wings, like certain species of 

 hawks, ready to pounce on the fry below; now and 

 then settling on an old, dead, overhanging limb to 

 reconnoitre. Mill-dams are particularly visited by this 



feathered fisher; and the sound of his pipe is as well 

 known to the miller as the rattling of his own hopper." 

 The nest of this species is made in the perpendicular 

 bank of his favourite stream, into which he digs hori- 

 zontally by means of his bill and claws often to the 

 depth of four or five feet. The eggs are five in num- 

 ber, and of a pure white colour. In the colder states 

 of the Union this bird would appear, from Wilson's 

 statements, to be only a summer visitor ; at least it 

 departs from Pennsylvania and the more northern 

 states at the approach of winter, and returns to them 

 again in the spring. 



Of the South American species we shall only men- 

 tion three, namely the STARRY KINGFISHER (C. 

 torquata), a rather large species, which somewhat 

 resembles the preceding in colours, being bluish-ash 

 above, and chestnut-brown beneath, with a white 

 collar and spots a native of South America and 

 Mexico; the RED and GREEN KINGFISHER (C. trico- 

 lor), an inhabitant of Guiana and Brazil, about eight 

 inches in length, with the upper parts green, sparingly 

 spotted with white, and the lower surface red; and the 

 GREEN and WHITE KINGFISHER (C. Americana), 

 somewhat smaller than the preceding, from Avhich it 

 differs in having the lower surface white. 



THE GIANT KINGFISHER (Dacelo gig as), which is 

 the largest species of this family, measuring about 

 eighteen inches in total length, is an inhabitant of New 

 South Wales, where it is known to the colonists by the 

 name of the Laughing Jackass, conferred upon it on 

 account of its singular cry, which, as Mr. Gould says, 

 " is so extraordinary as to be unlike that of any other 

 living creature." This cry, which is described as 

 resembling a sort of loud gurgling laugh, and is com- 

 pared by Captain Sturt to " a chorus of wild spirits," 

 may be heard at a considerable distance, and the bird 

 is especially vociferous at dawn and sunset. 



The Giant Kingfisher (fig. 106) has a much larger 

 and stronger bill than the preceding species, and this 

 character is found in all the birds belonging to the 

 genera Dacelo and Halcyon. Its head also is very 

 large, and covered with a sort of crest ot longish 

 feathers, which are dark -brown on the crown of the 

 head, and pale-buff on the sides. A broad dark-brown 

 band passes from the base of the bill round the back of 

 the head, and the back is dark-browji. The back of 

 the neck is pale-buff, the whole lower surface white, the 

 wings, crests, and rump, greenish-blue and black, the 

 quill feathers of the wing black, with a white spot near 

 the outer margin of the wing, and the tail is chestnut- 

 brown, banded with black, and with the extreme tip, 

 the margins of the outer feathers, and a band before 

 the tip, white. The upper mandible is blackish-brown, 

 the lower one pale buff. 



The Giant Kingfisher is by no means a shy bird, 

 but, on the contrary, exhibits a prying and inquisitive 

 disposition, which, indeed, is indicated in his general 

 aspect, and especially in the somewhat corvine expres- 

 sion of his face. He will perch on the branch of a tree 

 and watch with the greatest curiosity the lighting of a 

 fire by any party travelling through the bush in his 

 vicinity. He flies and settles quite noiselessly, so that 

 his being in the neighbourhood is seldom known until 



