ALCEDINID^ - ALCEDININ^ : KINGFISHERS. 
469 
are included within their number. . . . ^ Their characteristic habit is to sit motionless watching 
for their prey, to dart after it and seize it on the wing, and to return to their original position 
to swallow it.' . . . Alcedinidcc 
nest in holes and lay white eggs. It 
is, however, to be remarked that, in 
accordance with a modification of the 
habits of the various genera, a cor- 
responding modification has taken 
place in the mode of nidification, the 
piscivorous section of the family nest- 
ing for the most part in holes in the 
banks of streams, while the insectiv- 
orous section of the family generally 
nest in the holes of trees, not nec- 
essarily in the vicinity of water." 
(Sharpe.) 
The nearest allies of the King- 
fishers are the Horubills (Bucero- 
ticlm) and Hoopoes (Upupidce) of 
the Old World, and the Toucans 
{Wiamphastidce) and Barbets {Cap- 
itonidm) of the New. All these 
families, like the Woodpeckers 
{Picidce), agree in being anomalo- 
gonatous, with two carotids, a 
tufted oil-gland, and no coeca. The 
formula of the leg-muscles is the 
same as in TrogonidcB, the acces- 
sory fomoro-caudal, accessory semitendinosus and ambiens all being absent. (G-arrod.) 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 required. They are very unequally 
distributed. Ceryle 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 24 species are 
characteristic of the Ethiopian region ; one genus and 25 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 Dacelonince (with 14 genera and 84 species), the 
bill is more or less depressed, with smooth, rounded, or sulcate culmen. In the 
35. Subfamily ALCEDBNIN/E, Piscivorous Kingfishers, 
the bill is compressed with carinate culmen. The American species all belong here. It is the 
niore particularly piscivorous section ; the BacelonincB feed for the most part upon insects, rep- 
tiles and land mollusks. 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. 
45. CE'RYLE. (Gr. Kr]pv\os, Tcerulos, 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 mng. Tarsi 
short ; legs naked above the tibio-tarsal joint. Plumage belted below. 
Fig, 320. — A typical Kingfisher, the European Alcedo ispida. 
(From Dixon.) 
