THE SEARCHERS. -8,9 



suffice to say that the upper portions of the body are greenish blue, and the lower yellowish brown ; 

 the eye is deep brown, the beak bright red, and the foot cinnabar-red. The length of this bird is six 

 inches and a half, the breadth ten inches and a half ; the wing measures two inches and two-thirds ; 

 the length of tail one inch and a half 



This Kingfisher, the only European representative of the above group, is one of the most 

 beautiful of our British birds, and its appearance as it dashes along in the sunshine strikingly 

 brilliant. It is an inhabitant of all parts of Europe, except the extreme north, and is also widely 

 spread over Asia and Africa. This species is always found in the vicinity of water, over which it may be 

 seen shooting along like a htde meteor. Its food consists not only of small fishes, but also of aquatic 

 insects and leeches. The appetite of the Kingfisher is voracious, and his manners shy and retiring. 

 Dwelling near sequestered brooks and rivers, he sits for hours together motionless and solitary on 

 some bough overhanging the stream, patiently watching the movements of the smaller fishes which 

 constitute his food, waiting for a favourable moment to dart with the velocity of an arrow upon the 

 first that comes near enough to the surface, and seldom failing in his aim. He returns with it to his 

 former station, on some large stone or branch, where he kills his captive by shifting its position in 

 his bill, so as to grasp it firmly near the tail, and striking its head smartly against the object on which 

 he rests ; he then reverses its position and swallows it head foremost ; the indigestible parts aif 

 afterwards ejected in a manner analogous to that of Owls and other birds of prey. The Kingfisher, 

 however, does not confine himself to this mode of watching in motionless solitude, but should the 

 stream be broad, or no favourable station for espionage present itself, he may be seen poising himself 

 over it at an altitude of ten or fifteen feet, scrutinising the element below for his food, and then 

 plunging upfjn it with a velocity which often carries him considerably below the surface. For these 

 habits his muscular, wedge-shaped body, increasing gradually from a long, pointed bill, and his sleek 

 plumage, which, whilst it passes freely through the water, is impervious to wet, seem especially to 

 adapt him. His wings are short, but powerful ; hence his flight is smooth, even, and exceedingly 

 rapid. Silent, except during the pairing and breeding season, when he occasionally utters a sharp, 

 piercing cry, indicative, perhaps, of attachment, and equally solitary and unsocial in his habits, the 

 Kingfisher dwells alone ; seldom consorting with others, or even with his mate, except during the 

 rearing of the young, when both sexes discharge with assiduity the duty of procuring requisite supplies 

 of food. The places selected for incubation are steep and secluded banks, overhanging ponds or 

 rivers, generally at a considerable distance above the surface of the water, and extending two or three 

 feet into the bank. The female, without making a nest, lays five or six eggs, of a beautiful pinky 

 white. As soon as the young are hatched, the parent birds may be seen incessantly passing to and 

 from the hole with food, the ejected remains of which in a short time accumulate around the callow 

 brood. The young do not leave the hole until fully fledged, when, seated on some neighbouring 

 branch, they may be known by their clamorous twitterings as they greet their parents, from whom 

 they impatiently expect supplies of food. They assume at an early age a plumage nearly resembling 

 the adult. The Kingfishers appear to possess habits of partial migration ; or, at least in our island, 

 they wander from the interior of the country along the rivers to the coast, and in the autumnal and 

 wintry months frequent the mouths of small rivulets and dykes near the sea. 



The PURPLE KINGFISHERS (G-yx), a group inhabiting India, the Malay and Philippine 

 Islands, and New Guinea, are without the inner toe possessed by the European Kingfisher above 

 described. These birds have hitherto been grouped with the Halcyones on account of the broad 

 base of their beak ; but the shortness of their wings and tail, and their general habits, fully justify 

 their introduction in this place. 



VOL. III. — 91 



