64 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
China, and exUnds even to Australia and Oceania. One 
species, Halcyon smyrnensis, even reaches Asia Minor and Pales- 
tine. The beautiful Racket-tailed Kingfishers {Tanysiptera) are 
forest-haunting birds, feeding chiefly on insects, and having 
lono- tails like a Bee-Eater or a Racket-tailed Parrot {Prioni- 
turus), while the largest of all Kingfishers are the Giants or 
“ Laughing Jackasses” of Australia. These birds feed mostly 
on reptiles. 
THE TRUE KINGFISHERS. FAMILY 
ALCEDINIDiE. 
The Kingfishers constitute in fact a single Family, co-equal 
with the Sub-order Halcyones, and consequently the characters 
of the latter are the same as those of the Family Alcedinidce. It 
is divided into two Sub-families, which are not very strongly 
characterised, but they may be separated more by their habits 
than by any structural features. Thus they are divided into 
Alcedinmee and Dacelonince, the latter Sub-family not concern- 
ing us here, as no member of it reaches the British Islands. 
THE FISH-EATING KINGFISHERS. SUB-FAMILY 
ALCEDININ/E. 
The Kingfishers of this Sub-family are mostly of the type of 
the British species, Alcedo ispida, which is mainly a piscivorous 
bird, but it likewise embraces the genus Ceryle, of which the 
Belted Kingfisher is the type, as well as the Stork-billed King- 
fishers {Pelargopsis) of Asia, the Crested Kingfishers {Cory- 
thornis) of Africa, and the Three-toed Kingfishers {Alcyone) of 
Australia and Malaisia. All of these birds have a narrow, com- 
pressed bill, very long and thin, and are almost entirely fish- 
eaters. 
THE BANDED KINGFISHERS. GENUS CERYLE. 
Ceryle, Boie, Isis, 1828, p, 316. 
Type, Ceryle rudis (L.). 
The species of this genus are found throughout the New 
World, as well as in Africa, Asia Minor, and the greater part 
