GIANT KINGFISHER. 



53 



supposed to lay from five or six to eight or nine 

 eggs, which in the European Kingfisher are of a 

 semitransparent white colour; the hole, or nest, 

 if it may properly be so named, behig often deeply 

 lined at the bottom by a stratum of small fish 

 bones and scales. The flight of the Kingfishers is 

 horizontal, and remarkably rapid. 



The genus may be divided into long and short- 

 tailed species; those of the latter division having 

 that part extremely short, as in the Common 

 Kingfisher. 



LONG-TAILED KINGFISHERS. 



GIANT KINGFISHER. 



Alcedo gigantea. A. suhcristata fusca^ subtus albido nigroque uri" 

 dulata, tectricibus alarum uropygioque subthalassinis, cauda faS' 

 ciis numerosis nigris. 



Slightly-crested brown Kingfisher, beneath whitish with black un- 

 dulations, the wing-coverts and rump pale sea-green, and the 

 tail crossed by numerous black bars. 



Alcedo gigantea. A. macroura subcristata, corpore oKvaceo-fusco 

 subtns albido nigricante fasciata, cauda ferruginea nigroque fasci- 

 ata apice alba. Lath. ind. orn. 



Alcedo fusca. Lin. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 



Le plus grand Martin-pescheur. Buff. ois. PI. Enl. 663. 



Great brown Kingfisher. Lath, syn. White's Voy, p. 137 

 ph oppos. 



This is by far the largest species hitherto dis- 

 covered, measuring about eighteen inches from the 

 tip of the bill to that of the tail. Its general de- 



