CETX TRIDACTTLA. 305 



and fly from place to place round its diurnal position until dark, and may then be watched and easily shot. 

 Unless when breeding it is always found alone ; and though it frequents the banks of streams and rivers in the 

 jungle, it evidently prefers the interior of the forest to the vicinity of exposed water. We find Mr. Inglis 

 noting it, in Caehar, as affecting thick jungle with small streams running through it; and at Devilane I 

 procured one of my specimens frequenting the jungle through which the sluice-stream ran, and rejecting 

 completely the open water of the tank which abounded with fish. Mr. Inglis observes that they sit very close, 

 and that he has more than once attempted to catch them with his hand. This is an illustration of the many 

 instances in which the habits of different species vary entirely according to the district or country which they 

 inhabit, for, as I have just remarked, this is a very shy bird in Ceylon. I have been told that the Singhalese 

 occasionally catch it on the Mahawelliganga, but in what manner I do not know. 



No information appears as yet to have been acquired concerning the nidification of this little Kingfisher. 



PICARI^E. 



Fam. MEROPID^. 



Of small size. Bill long, slender, curved, both mandibles much pointed. Wings long and 

 pointed. Tail with the central feathers often elongated. Legs and feet feeble. 

 Sternum with two emarginations on the posterior edge. 



Genus MEEOPS. 

 Bill much lengthened, slender, acute, compressed from the nostrils to the tip ; both 

 mandibles curved gently throughout. Nostrils oval, basal, placed midway between the margin 

 and the culmen, partially protected by short bristles ; rictal bristles short and stiff. Wings 

 long and pointed ; 1st quill minute, 2nd the longest. Tail of 12 feathers, even at the tip, or 

 with the two central rectrices prolonged beyond the rest and much attenuated. Tarsus short, 

 covered in front with transverse scales. Feet with the lateral toes joined to the middle, the outer 

 beyond, and the inner as far as, the last joint ; claws curved and hollowed beneath. 



