230 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



Family V Alcedinidte. (Lat. Alctdo, a Kingfisher.) 



Sub-family a. . Alcedinince. 



Hispida (Lat. rough], the Kingfisher. 



The peculiarities of their form immediately distinguish the 

 KINGFISHERS from other birds. The disproportionate length of 

 the bill is their chief characteristic. 



The Common Kingfisher is found in most parts of England. 

 Scarcely anything more beautiful can be conceived than the 

 metallic glitter of its plumage as it glides along the banks of 

 the river, or darts into the water after its struggling prey. 

 Its usual method of fishing is by placing itself on a stump or 

 stone overhanging the water, from which spot it watches for 

 the unsuspecting fish beneath. After a fish is caught, the bird 

 kills it by beating it several times against its resting-place, 

 and then swallows it, head foremost. Sometimes it does not 

 exercise sufficient caution in its devouring propensities. A 

 heedless Kingfisher was exhibited at the Ashmolean Society, 

 which had been found dead with a peculiarly large minnow 

 firmly fixed in its throat. 



It lays its eggs in holes bored in the banks of rivers or 

 ponds, and appears to build no nest. A pair of kingfishers, 

 for two successive years inhabited a bank of a very small 



