184 THE PAEADISE JACAMAE. 



ear-coverts there is a rather large white patch, the primary feathers of the wings are 

 blackish brown, and the secondaries blue, edged with shining green. The throat, chest, 

 and abdomen are of a beautifully pui-e white, contrasting boldly with the deep blue of 

 the upper parts of the body. 



Another species, the Azure Kingfisher {Alcyone azurea), is closely allied to the tiny 

 Kingfisher, and is also a native of Australia, but inhabits a different locality, being found 

 in New South Wales and Southern Australia. 



The nest of this bird is made in holes in the banks, and is simply composed of the 

 disgorged bones, scales, and other indigestible portions of the fishes which have been 

 rejected after the manner of most carnivorous birds. The number of eggs is rather large, 

 bein" from five to seven. The young are remarkably noisy, and whenever the parent 

 birds pass the entrance of the hole the young Kingfishers immediately think themselves 

 hungry, and set up a clamorous appeal for food. It is a very remarkable fact that the 

 young birds assume the plumage of the adult at their first moult, and being always rather 

 precocious, soon manage to get their own living. 



The food of this bird consists chiefly of fish and aquatic insects. It is solitary in its 

 habits, being never seen assembled in numbers, and appearing to exercise a watchful juris- 

 diction over a certain amount of land which it chooses to consider as its own property. 

 The intrusion of a stranger is instantly resented, and as the temper of the bird is 

 naturally quarrelsome, it is no uncommon event to see a pair of them engaged in conflict, 

 dashing to and fro like angry meteors, and wliirling through the air in transports of 

 rage. The general colour of the Azure Kingfisher is bright ultramarine blue above, buff 

 upon the neck, chest and abdomen, and pure white upon the chin. 



JACAMAES. 



The curioiis birds which are popularly known by the name of Jacajviars are all 

 natives of the New World, and, as might be imagined from the metallic brilliancy of 

 their plumage, are denizens of the tropical regions of their native land. 



In all these birds the bill is straight, long, rather compressed, pointed, with a decided 

 keel on the upper mandible, and with the corners of the mouth defended by some bristle- 

 like hairs. As will be seen, the toes are varied in number, some species possessing only 

 three toes, while the remainder are furnished with four toes as usual. The two front toes 

 are united only as far as the claws, and the thumb or " hallux " is either very short or 

 altogether absent. They are insect-eaters, and greatly resemble the trogons in many of 

 their habits. 



Tlie Paradise Jacamar is a striking little bird, on account of the beautiful colours 

 with which its plumage is decorated, its graceful form, and the long forked tail. It is but 

 a small bird, being not as large as an ordinary thrush, but its plumage is so beautiful in 

 its colou.ring and so graceful in the arrangement of its feathers that the spectator entirely 

 forgets its size in admiration of its beauty. The neck of this species is rather long and 

 mobile, enabling the bird to dart its long straight bill in every direction with great 

 rapidity. The tail is rather curiously formed, the feathers being so graduated tbat the 

 central pair extend far beyond the others, and form a kind of fork, alterable at the will of 

 the bird. As the Jacamars bear a very close resemblance to the kingfishers, they were 

 formerly supposed to belong to that group of birds, and the Paradise Jacamar was termed 

 the Pork-tailed Kingfisher. 



The head of the Paradise Jacamar is brown tinged strongly with violet, and the throat, 

 the neck, and some of the wing-coverts are pure white. The back, wings, and remaindei 



