ALCEDINWJE - ALCEBININJE : KINGFISHERS. 



469 



are iucludcd within their number. . . . ' Tlieir cliaracteristic haliit is td sit motionless watching 

 for their prey, to dart after it and seize it on the whig, and to return to their original position 

 to swallow it.' . . . The Alcediindce 



nest in holes and lay white eggs. It = ^^r^^ ^-^ 



is, however, to ho remarked that, iu ^s=^-^'=^?^^^^^--^=^\. < 



aec( irdance with a modification ( if the 

 habits of the various genera, a cor- j 

 responding modification has talven ^|^ 

 place in the mode of nidification, the ==^ 

 piscivorous secticm of the family nest- ~ 

 iug for the most jiart in holes in the 

 biinks of streams, while the insectiv- 

 orous section of the family generally 

 nest iu the holes of trees, not nec- 

 essarily in the vicinity of water." 

 (Sharpe.) 



The nearest allies of the King- 

 fishers are the Horubills (Bticero- 

 tid(E] and Hoopoes {U'piipidcB) of 

 the Old AVorld, and the Toucans 

 (fihampliastidcB) and Barbets ( Cap- 

 itonidcE) of the New. All these 

 families, lilie the Woodpeckers 

 {Picidm), agree in being anomalo- 

 gonatous, with two carotids, a 

 tufted oil-gland, aud no cceca. The 

 formula of the leg-muscles is the 

 same as in Troqonidce, the acces- 



FlG. 320. — A typical Kingfisher, tlie Eurn[ji':i 

 {From Dixon.) 



Afr{'{lo (spida. 



sory femoro-caudal, accessory semitendinosus and ambiens all being absent. (G.^rrod.) One 

 would gain an imperfect or erroneous idea of the family to judge of it by the American fragment, 

 of one genus and 6 or 8 species. According to the author of the splendid monograph above cited, 

 there are in all 125 species, belonging to 19 genera; the latter appear to be very judiciously 

 handled, but a moderate reduction of the former will be renuired. They are very imequally 

 distributed. Cerijle alone is nearly cosmopolitan, absent only from the Australian region; the 

 Northern portion of the Old World has only 2 peculiar species ; 3 genera and 2i species are 

 characteristic of the Ethiopian region ; one genus and 35 species are confined to the Indian : 

 while no less than 10 genera and 59 species are peculiar to the Australian. Mr. Sharpe recog- 

 nizes two subfamilies ; in the insectivorous DacelonincB (with 14 genera and 84 species), the 

 bill is more or less depressed, with smooth, rounded, or sulcate cuhnen. In the 



35. SubfamUy ALCEDININ/E, Piscivorous Kingfishers, 



the bill is compressed with earinate culmen. The American species aU belong here. It is the 

 more particularly piscivorous section ; the VacelonincE feed for the most part upon insects, rep- 

 tiles and land moUusks. Ceryle is the only American genus, with 2 North American species. 

 They are thoroughly aquatic and piscivorous, seeking their prey by plunging into the water 

 from on wing ; and nest in holes in banks, laying numerous white eggs. 



CE'RYLB. (Gr. KTipvXos, Jcerulos, a kingfisher.) Belted Kingfishers. Head with an 

 occipital crest. Bill longer than head, straight, stout, acute. Wings long and pointed. Tail 

 rather long and broad (in comparison with some genera), much shorter than wing. Tarsi 

 short; legs naked above the tibio-tarsal joint. Plumage belted below. 



