86 ALCEDIN^E. ALCEDO. 



and incapable of spreading ; claws well curved, slender, 

 compressed, acute. Plumage blended, but generally firm, 

 and often highly coloured ; wings of moderate length, 

 broad ; tail of twelve feathers. 



These birds belong chiefly to the warmer regions of the 

 globe. They feed upon insects, which they seize on 

 wing, or upon small fishes, on which they dart from a 

 perch. They generally nestle in holes, laying several 

 elliptical white eggs. The young, at first scantily covered 

 with down, remain until fully fledged. 



Only a single species of each of two genera occurs in 

 Britain. 



GENUS XXIII. ALCEDO. KINGFISHER. 



Bill longer than the head, straight, pentagonal at the 

 base, then four-sided, compressed, and tapering to a point ; 

 upper mandible with the dorsal line almost straight, the ridge 

 narrow, the side sloping, the edges sharp, and destitute of 

 notch, the tip acute ; lower mandible with the angle short 

 and rather acute, the dorsal line ascending and slightly con- 

 vex, the ridge narrow, the sides sloping outwards, the edges 

 sharp, the tip acute ; gape-line straight, commencing be- 

 neath the eyes. Both mandibles concave internally, tongue 

 very small, flattened, broad, with the tip suddenly contract- 

 ed ; oesophagus very wide, without crop ; stomach large, with 

 a very thin muscular coat, and soft rugous epithelium ; in- 

 testine of moderate length, very slender ; no coeca ; cloaca 

 very large, globular. Nostrils linear, direct ; nasal mem- 

 brane short. Eyes of moderate size. Aperture of ear rather 

 small, roundish. Feet remarkably small and feeble ; tibia 

 bare below ; tarsus extremely short, roundish, with indistinct 

 scales ; toes short, very slender, the anterior united to nearly 

 half their length, covered above with indistinct scales ; claws 

 arched, compressed, acute. Plumage soft, blended, but firm ; 

 feathers oblong ; wings rather short, very broad, concave, 

 rounded ; primaries not much longer than the secondaries, 

 the first extremely small, the third and fourth longest ; tail 

 short, rounded. 



