THE KING-FISHER. 459 



overhanging the water, or a stone projecting above the surface, 

 for its prey : in this position it will sometimes remain for hours, 

 absolutely immovable. When a fish comes within reach, with great 

 rapidity the King-fisher darts upon it, seizing it in its powerful man- 

 dibles, and after destroying it by compression, or by knocking it against 

 a stone or the trunk of a tree, swallows it head foremost. When fish are 

 scarce it feeds upon aquatic insects, which it seizes on the wing. Its 

 aerial movements are rapid and direct, but weakly maintained, being 

 performed by a series of quick jerking beats of the wings, close to 

 the surface of the water : the action of the wings is so rapid as to be 

 scarcely perceptible. The King-fisher is a bad walker, on account 

 of the shortness of its tarsi. 



This genus are all solitary in their habits, living generally in secluded 

 places, and rarely seen even with birds of their own species, except 

 in the pairing season. Like the Todies, they build their nests in 

 the steep banks of rivers, either in the natural crevices, or in holes 

 hollowed out by water-rats • and these dwelling-places are generally 

 littered by the fragments of their food. Father and mother sit 

 alternately, and when the young are hatched they feed them with 

 the produce of their fishing. The bird has a shrill and piercing note, 

 which it utters on the wing. Their flesh is very disagreeable. 



The King-fisher is the Halcyon of the ancients, who attributed to 

 it after death the power of indicating the winds. The seven days 

 before and the seven days after the winter solstice were the Halcyon 

 days, during which the sea remained perfectly calm that the bird 

 might build its nest. To its dead body the attributes of turn- 

 ing aside thunderbolts, of giving beauty, peace, and plenty, and 

 other absurdities, were ascribed. Even now, in some remote 

 provinces in France, the dead birds are invested with the power 

 of preserving woollen stuffs from the attack of the moth; hence 

 they are called Moth Birds by drapers and shopkeepers. They are 

 inhabitants of almost every region of the globe, and comprehend 

 a great number of species, spread over Asia, Africa, and America.'" 

 Europe possesses one species not larger than a sparrow, and which 

 is remarkable for the rich colouring of its feathers. What, 

 indeed, can surpass the brilliancy of the King-fisher as it suddenly 

 darts along some murmuring brook, tracing a thread of azure and 

 emerald ? Some authors separate the King-fishers, properly so called 



* In China a great number of species are to be found, all robed in the most 

 brilliant plumage, nine of which I have collected. In America I have not been 

 so successful, its best-known species being about the size of a Blue Jay, and is so 

 like that bird as sometimes to be taken for L by the most inexperienced. — Ed. 



