KINGFISHERS 



KINGFISHERS must be numbered among 

 the commonest birds in India. They are 

 fowl which observe Friday every day of 

 their lives. They do this because they like 

 fish. Quite a large number of the winged community 

 subsist on a fish diet : there are the cormorants, the 

 osprey, the fishing owl, and a host of other interesting 

 fishermen, accounts of which would certainly fill a 

 large book. 



Three species of kingfisher are very common in all 

 parts of India. Alcedo ispida, the common kingfisher, 

 of course occurs; this bird is distributed all over the 

 Old World. The variety found in India is much smaller 

 than the one we see in England, and used to be con- 

 sidered a different species and called Alcedo bengalensis. 

 Naturalists, however, are now agreed that both the 

 large and the small races form but one species. The 

 difference in size is usually attributed to climatic influ- 

 ences ; it is held that in the hot climate of India the 

 bird does not attain its full devolopment. 



With all due respect to those who entertain this 

 theory, I would point out that the common kingfisher 

 found in those parts of the Himalayas where the winter 



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