PASSERINE. SYNDACTYLI. 297 



Alcedo* the Kingfisher. 



The head thick, the body short and squat, the feet 

 disproportionately small, the tail short, and the bill 

 enormously large, the Kingfishers prove how little 

 brilliance of tints can atone for ugliness of form. 

 Many of them are almost hideous, notwithstanding 

 the bright colours, chiefly shades of blue and green, 

 with which they are arrayed. Yet they are not the 

 less beautifully adapted to their condition ; their 

 organization is as perfect, and their instincts as un- 

 erring, as those of the most favoured. They live 

 exclusively on fish ; sitting patiently on some low 

 branch that overhangs the water, they wait till some 

 unfortunate fish passes beneath ; down they drop 

 upon their prey, and sweeping it up instantly swal- 

 low it, without picking the bones. Their voices are 

 harsh, loud, and sudden. They lay in holes in cliffs, 

 generally near the water, and are inhabitants of all 

 parts of the world. England possesses one, (A. Is- 

 pida,} of somewhat small size, with the bill less dis- 

 proportioned than in some of the foreign species. 



Buceros^ the Hornbill. 



The inflated bills of the last genus in some mea- 

 sure prepare us for the singular form of that organ 

 in the present. The Hornbills are birds of sombre 



* Perhaps from Xj, Jials^ the sea, and $i$afti, didomi, to give, because 

 of the ancient fabulous stories of their calming the sea for mariners, 

 t Bat/?, bous, an ox, and xigoif, keras^ a horn. 



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