KINGFISHERS. 403 



The true Halcyons, on the other hand, have their chief development in the Ethi- 

 opian region. Mr. Jules Verreaux writes to Mr. Sharpe about them as follows : 

 "Wood kingfishers (Haley ones) generally feed on insects in mimosa trees and dry 

 forests ; but when the supply is scanty, they turn their attention to lizards. Should 

 this food also fail, they will frequent the water, and fish like a true Alcedo. Some- 

 times they will hover, as if to inspect the water beneath them, remaining in the air 

 for some time, but not so long as a true kingfisher, and then returning to their perch 

 they will sit for hours, scarcely moving, till a passing fish is secured by an active 

 plunge. A curious fact, also, is that when they are in the bush there are generally 

 seven or eight in close proximity ; but when they go to the water they keep separate, 

 each by itself. These kingfishers, when they frequent the water or the seashore, 

 eat Crustacea, or small shell-fish, which they hold between their feet, and, break- 

 ing the shell by repeated blows of their bill, throw the latter away and devour the 

 animal." 



We now come to the true kingfishers (Alcedininae), remarkable for their fish-eating 

 habits. Our American species belong to this group, and being in fact congeneric with 

 several Old World forms, present no peculiar features of their own. Many, or in 

 fact most of the Old Woi-ld members of this family are remarkable for their gorgeous 

 coloration. It is especially the silky azure and bluish-green tints which causes the 

 admiration of all observers, and the common European species {A. ispida) forms no 

 exception to the rule, for above, the head, scapulars, and wing-coverts are dark green 

 with light greenish-blue lunules on the former, and similarly colored spots on the last- 

 mentioned part ; the centre of the back is shining beryl-blue, and the short tail azure- 

 blue ; the under side is deep cinnamon-colored, except the white throat. 



A few abstracts from Mr. Seebohm's latest work will give the reader an excellent 

 idea of the habits of the fish-eating kingfishers in general : " Like most birds of bril- 

 liant plumage the kingfisher prefers a quiet and secluded haunt. It loves the little 

 trout streams, with wooded and precipitous banks, the still ponds and small lakes, 

 ornamental waters in parks, where it is not molested, and the sides of sluggish rivers, 

 drains, and mill-ponds. Here, in such a haunt, the bird often flits past like an indis- 

 tinct gleam of bluish light. Fortune may sometimes favor the observer, and the bird 

 may alight on some twig over the stream, its weight causing it to swing gently to and 

 fro. It eagerly scans the shoal of young trout sporting in the pool below, when sud- 

 denly it will drop down into the water/ and, almost before the spectator is aware of 

 the fact, is back again to its perch with a struggling fish in its beak. A few blows on 

 the branch and its prey is ready for the dexterous movement of the bill, which places 

 it in a position for swallowing. Sometimes the captured fish is adroitly jerked into 

 the air, and caught as it falls. The kingfisher may often be seen to pause in its rapid 

 flight, and hover, like a pigmy kestrel, above the pool ere plunging down. 



"The kingfisher lives principally on small fish; but it also eats various kinds of 

 insects, and their larva?. It also captures shrimps, and has been known to take small 

 crabs. All the indigestible portions of its food are cast up in pellets, most if not all 

 of them in the roosting or breeding place. 



" The kingfisher rears its young in a hole, which it generally makes for itself, or 

 less frequently adapts for its purpose one ready made. This hole is made in the banks 

 of the stream it frequents. The kingfisher, in spite of its brilliant dress, is a slatternly 

 bird. It may fairly be called an ' ill-bird,' since it fouls its own nest and its peerless 

 eggs. The kingfisher does not make any more nest than that which the ejected fish- 



