134 
ALCEDO ISPIDA. 
KINGFISHER. 
Tail short; body above blue, beneath 
tawny; lores reddish; crown waved with 
black; sub-crested. 
Alcedo Ispida, Lin. Gme. 
Le Martin-pecheur, JBuffon. 
Kingfisher, Pen. Lath. Bew. 
Common Kingfisher, Montagu. 
The Kingfisher is by no means elegant 
in its form, but its colours are certainly 
more vivid than those of any other Euro- 
pean bird. It measures seven inches in 
length, and about eleven inches in the 
expansion of its wings. The beak of the 
female is not so long as in the other sex. 
She chooses most commonly for her place 
of nidification the deserted hole of the 
water rat, in the bank of a clear running 
stream. For some time previous to the 
hen laying her eggs, both sexes may be 
observed retiring to that spot for the pur- 
