KINGFISHERS. 75 



before commencing its migration across the channel, the kingfisher will feed on 

 small crabs. Although so exclusively a water-bird, at most times of the year, the 

 nest is not unfrequently found at some distance from any river. A few years ago, 

 for instance, we were shown a nest with seven eggs, situated in the middle of a 

 wood bordering the Thames, and fully a quarter of a mile from the water. This 

 distance had to be traversed by the parent birds every time they brought a fish to 

 their young ; and it was a curious sight to see one of these brilliant birds flying 

 like a meteor through the green foliage of the trees. The nest had been tunnelled 

 under the roots of a fallen tree, which had excavated a deep hole in a sandy bank 

 as it fell, and in this instance the tunnel was by no means straight, but was carried 

 over and under the roots which barred the progress of the bird in a direct line. 

 Dawson Rowley maintained that the kingfisher not only bored its own hole in the 

 banks, but that the fish-bones found in the chamber at the end of the tunnel are 

 placed there by the birds with the idea of forming a nest. There is, however, 

 quite as often no nest whatever, the eggs being laid on the floor of the chamber. 



In Africa the beautiful little crested kingfishers (Cory thornis) t&ke the place of 

 the common species. Like the latter, these birds feed on fish and small crustaceans, 

 boring a hole into some sandy bank in which to lay their eggs, which are four or six 

 in number, on a small platform of fish-bones. The three-toed Australian king- 

 fishers (Alcyone) seem to have very similar habits. 



Three-Toed This group brings us to the second subfamily (Dacelonince), 



Insectivorous all the members of which, although by no means disdaining a fish- 

 Kingfishers, j-g^ ^j^^ ^j^^y frequenting rivers, are more exclusively inhabitants 

 of forest and bush-clad country, where they subsist mainly on small reptiles, 

 insects, crustaceans, and such-like creatures. The subfamily is characterised by 

 the frequent large development of the tail; while the beak is either rounded 

 or flattened, according as the fish-eating habit is more or less predominant. 

 Although forest-hunting, the members of the four genera, Ceyx, Ceycopsis, 

 Ispidina, and Myioceyx, are, however, characterised by having their tails as 

 short as in the typical kingfishers. The first of these genera comprises a number 

 of brilliantly-coloured kingfishers of small size, inhabiting India and the countries 

 to the east of the Bay of Bengal, throughout the whole of the Malayan Archi- 

 pelago as far as Northern Australia. While many of them have the plumage of 

 a brilliant red, shot with a lilac gloss, and with blue on the wings and scapulars, 

 some of the Malayan and Papuan forms are mostly blue or black, with brilliant 

 cobalt or silvery lower shades. One of the most striking of the red group is the 

 Indian three-toed kingfisher (Ceyx tridactyla), in which the back is black with 

 a mark of deep blue or purple, while the lower back is glossed with lilac ; the 

 wing-coverts being black edged with blue ; the tail cinnamon-rufous ; the head 

 rufous marked with lilac ; the ear-coverts and cheeks orange-yellow, the under- 

 parts also orange-yellow ; the bill and feet deep vermilion ; and the iris brown. 

 The total length is 5^ inches. This pretty little bird inhabits the forest-districts 

 of Southern India and Ceylon, and is found from Nipal eastwards through the 

 Burmese countries down the Malayan Peninsula. Mr. Stuart Baker states that it 

 is fairly common in Kachar, and is more of a fish-eater than the Malayan species 

 which are forest-birds, living chiefly on insects. This kingfisher, indeed, lives 



