494 ' The Roller-like Birds 



migrating. The nesting site is a burrow in a bank usually near water but some- 

 times at a distance of a mile or more. The eggs, six to eight in number, are 

 placed on a bed of fish bones in a nest cavity some six inches in diameter at the 

 termination of the hole. 



The Crested Kingfishers (Corythornis] are, as the name implies, conspicu- 

 ously crested, bright-plumaged birds not exceeding five inches in length; of the 

 three species, C. cristatus of Madagascar is shown in the figure (page 500) ; their 

 habits are similar to those of the common species just described, as are the 

 habits of the three-toed Australian Kingfishers (Alcyone}. 



This brings us to the confines of the other subfamily (Dacelonina), which, 

 while not very sharply differentiated from the first, is nevertheless distinguished 

 by having the bill more or less depressed or flattened or sometimes even grooved, 

 while the habits are more insectivorous or reptilivorous, and hence the members 

 are not so dependent upon the presence of water. They do not altogether dis- 

 dain an occasional fish, but for the most part they haunt the forests and brush- 

 and jungle -covered country, often a long way from water; their nesting habits, 

 as already pointed out, are also different. This subfamily comprises the great 

 majority of the members of the family, some fifteen genera and not less than 

 one hundred and fifty species falling within its limits, and while there is a 

 group of four large genera in which the tail is as short as in any of the fish- 

 eating forms, in certain of them this member is extremely long and variously 

 ornamented, and in plumage, too, they are among the most brilliant of birds, 

 principally a beautiful cobalt-blue combined with red and black and yellow 

 in tasteful contrast. 



Three-toed Kingfishers. Among the short-tailed forms the little Three-toed 

 Kingfishers (Ceyx) of the Indian and Malayan regions are certainly worthy of 

 mention. Of the twenty-two species now recognized the Indian Three-toed 

 Kingfisher (C. tridactyla) is perhaps best known, being a bird five and a half 

 inches in length, with the general color above black, washed with purplish blue 

 or deep ultramarine on the mantle ; the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 red, washed with beautiful lilac; the wing-coverts black edged with blue; the 

 tail-feathers cinnamon -rufous; the head rufous marked with lilac; cheeks and 

 ear-coverts orange-yellow, as are the under parts; bill and feet bright vermilion- 

 red. This little feathered gem, according to Mr. Blanford, is a forest bird, 

 usually found singly or in pairs by hill streams, but sometimes away frpm water. 

 It feeds to a large extent upon small fish and probably aquatic insects, and has 

 a shrill, piping note. It nests in holes in sandy banks, often at a distance from 

 water, and lays from four to six or seven very small eggs. 



Laughing Kingfishers. Lack of space forbids extended mention of the 

 equally brilliant species of Ceycopsis of the Celebes and Sangi islands, Ispidina 

 of Africa and Madagascar, and Myioceyx of West Africa, all being tiny species 

 under five inches in length and one (Myioceyx lecontii} being only three and three 

 quarters inches long. In sharp contrast with these, both as regards size and 

 plumage, is the huge, thick-billed Clytoceyx rex of the mountains of southeastern 

 New Guinea, and the so-called Laughing Kingfishers (Dacelo) of Australia and 



