HALCYONID^. 273 



the primary and secondary quill-feathers verditer- 

 blue at the base, the rest dark bluish black; chin 

 greyish white ; throat verditer ; all the under surface 

 of the body and the under wing-coverts pale bluish 

 green ; under surface of primaries and secondaries 

 rich Berlin-blue for two-thirds of their length, then 

 tipped with greyish blue ; the outer elongated tail- 

 feather on each side almost wholly blue, but tipped 

 with dark blue ; these longer outside tail-feathers 

 distinguish the male bird ; the legs and toes yellow- 

 ish brown ; the claws black." Any one comparing 

 this description with the painted picture in Meyer's 

 smaller edition of * British Birds ' would hardly 

 imagine they could be meant for the same bird. 



Yarrell says that the egg of this bird is white, and 

 resembles that of the Kingfisher in everything but 

 size. 



Family HALCYONID^E. 



KINGFISHER, Alcedo ispida. There are now two 

 species of Kingfisher included in the list of British 

 Birds. The present species, the brightest and most 

 beautiful of all our commoner British birds (it may 

 may perhaps be equalled, if not excelled, by some of 

 our rarer summer visitors) is still tolerably plentiful 

 near all our streams and rivers, though it has 

 suffered considerable persecution and had its num- 

 bers much diminished by the mania of young ladies 



