Stork-billed Kingfishers 



493 



while the under parts are pure white with the breast crossed in the male with 

 two, and in the female by a single, black band. " Its flight," says Mr. Dresser, 

 " is not very swift, but direct and steadied by regular beats of the wings. It 

 frequents both inland waters and the seacoast, and is gregarious at all seasons," 

 breeding in April or May in holes excavated in banks along streams and laying 

 four to six eggs. Similar to this but a little larger and having more distinct 

 black malar lines is the Varied Kingfisher (C. varia) of the Indian peninsula, 

 Ceylon, and China, while to the northward in the Himalayas, the Burmese 

 provinces, and Japan occurs the Himalayan Spotted Kingfisher (C. guttata}, 

 which is a very wild, shy bird, usually seen in pairs and extremely difficult of 

 approach. It feeds exclusively on fish, for which it watches from a bush or 

 bough overhanging the water, and nests in 

 banks, laying only three or four glossy eggs. 

 The remaining species are African. 



Stork-billed Kingfishers. Agreeing with 

 the genus Ceryle in having the tail longer than 

 the bill, but differing in having the sexes similar 

 in plumage, are the dozen or more species of 

 PelargopsiSj which from the very large, sharp- 

 pointed bill have appropriately obtained the 

 collective name of Stork-billed Kingfishers. 

 Confined to the Oriental region from the 

 Indian peninsula and Ceylon to Java, Sumatra, 

 Borneo, and the Philippines and Celebes, they 

 are further distinguished by having bright blue 

 backs and with a single exception coral-red bills; in length they are between 

 twelve and fourteen inches. As one of the best-known we may select the 

 Indian Stork-billed Kingfisher (P. gurial}, a rather handsome bird, the 

 head dark chocolate-brown, the sides of the neck and neck-collar pale ochre, 

 while the wings and upper back are dull green, the remainder of the back a 

 rich greenish cobalt, and the entire under surface ochreous buff. Of the three 

 remaining genera of the subfamily, in all of which the bill is longer than the tail, 

 the genus Alcedo is widespread over the Old World, with the exception of Aus- 

 tralia and Polynesia, one of the best-known being the little European Kingfisher 

 (A. ispida), which ranges throughout Europe and Asia and thence over the 

 Indian and Malay peninsulas to the Philippines. About seven inches long, 

 it is azure -blue above and rusty orange-red beneath. It is the only Kingfisher, 

 except an occasional rare straggler, which reaches the British Islands, where it 

 is looked upon as the most brilliantly colored bird visiting that country. For- 

 merly abundant, it was much persecuted and seemed likely to be entirely driven 

 out, but in later years it has been more or less protected and has again become 

 tolerably common. It has habits very similar to those of our Belted Kingfisher, 

 frequenting streams and rivers, the margins of lakes and, more rarely, the sea- 

 shore. It feeds mainly on fish, but also on tadpoles, water insects, and occasional 

 crustaceans, the latter especially in the fall, as it frequents the seaside before 



FIG. 153. European Kingfisher, 

 Alcedo ispida. 



