KINGFISHERS. 



69 



morning and evening, but occasionally also during the day. It never seems to 

 descend to the ground, and it feeds on fruit." 



THE KINGFISHERS. 

 Family ALCEDINID^. 



It is scarcely possible to name a country in the world where kingfishers of 

 some sort or another are not found. Although they vary greatly in form and 



THE KINGFISHER (f nat. size). 



habits, as a rule they have a long and somewhat pointed bill ; but the shape of this 

 organ varies considerably in form, according as the bird is a fish-catcher or a 

 devourer of reptiles and other food than fish. The structure of the foot, however, 

 scarcely changes throughout the group, for every kingfisher is flat-soled and has 

 an anisodactyle foot, with the toes for the most part united together, so that the 

 foot of these birds is by no means unlike that of a hornbill, to which group some 

 of the larger kingfishers make an approach in general appearance. Unlike so 

 many of the Picarian birds, most kingfishers have twelve tail-feathers instead of 

 ten, though a few possess the ordinary Picarian number. As in the hornbills and 



