VI 



ALCEDINIDAE 383 



serrated, as in the Momotidae ; in Carcineutes and Dacelo it 

 exceeds the mandible, and in Melidora it is hooked. The 

 feeble metatarsi are scutellated or rarely reticulated ; the third 

 .and fourth toes are joined for most of their length, the second 

 and third for one joint, all being broad below ; the claws are 

 sharp and curved. Ceyx and Alcyone have the second digit 

 aborted. The wings are short and rounded, yet powerful, the 

 primaries being eleven in number, with the outer much reduced, 

 the secondaries from eleven to fourteen ; the tail is commonly 

 abbreviated, but in Tanysiptera has a median pair of greatly 

 elongated racquet-tipped feathers ; that genus, moreover, possesses 

 but ten rectrices instead of twelve. The furcula is U-shaped, 

 the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial, there is no aftershaft, the adults 

 are uniformly downy, the nestlings are naked. The tongue is 

 rudimentary, though said to shew an approach to that of the 

 Motmots in Pelargopsis. The sexes may be similar or dissimilar, 

 even in the same genus ; the young are like their parents, or 

 somewhat duller. The colours of the Family are most variable, 

 a combination of blue, green, and chestnut being frequent, while 

 almost uniform red, or black and white, are not uncommon ; the 

 beak may be black, red, yellow, or parti -coloured. About twenty 

 genera, with some hundred and fifty species, occupy nearly the 

 whole globe, though by far the greater number are found from 

 Celebes to Papuasia, while Ceryle alone is American. 



The habits in the Family are as diverse as the styles of 

 plumage. The Water-Kingfishers love' shady haunts by quiet 

 lowland streams, where the fishes which form their chief diet 

 abound ; in such situations they may be seen sitting patient and 

 motionless on some favourite overhanging bough or projecting 

 stone, from which they dart out like an arrow upon their prey. 

 If successful, they return immediately to their perch, on which, 

 they beat the fish before jerking it down the throat. At other 

 times they hover over the water with vibrating pinions, or dive 

 perpendicularly with closed wings. They are not, however, entirely 

 piscivorous, but eat insects and small crustaceans, especially when 

 they seek the sea-shore, as do several species of Halcyon, Alcedo y 

 and Ceryle, including our native Kingfisher, chiefly towards winter. 

 In tropical countries reeds and sugar-canes serve for perches. The 

 flight is straight and quick, but not long sustained ; the note is 

 either high-pitched, and of two or three syllables, which may be 



