172 
ALCEDINiE. ALCEDO. 
the eye, another beneath it, and auricular, orange-red; scale-like 
feathers of the throat and sides of the neck splendent, fire- red, changing 
to purplish-red, yellowish-red, greenish-yellow, or yellowish-green ; 
behind them on the fore neck a broad band of reddish- white ; the rest 
of the lower parts like the upper, the abdomen inclining to white. 
Female with the upper parts gold-green, the head inclining to brown ; 
wings as in the male ; tail-feathers orange-red at the base, brownish- 
black toward the end, the tip white ; lower parts white, tinged with 
rufous, especially the sides ; throat with roundish spots of metallic 
greenish-red. 
Male, 8j\, wing, ly|. 
From California along the north-west coast to Nootka Sound. Abun- 
dant. Migratory. 
Trochilus rufus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. v. i. p. 497. 
Trochilus (Selasphorus) rufus, Cinnamon or Nootka Humming Bird, Swains. & 
Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 324. 
RutFed-necked Humming Bird, Trochilus rufus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 555. 
FAMILY XXV. ALCEDIN^. KINGFISHERS. 
Bill long, straight, stout, broader than high at the base, 
much compressed, tapering to a rather acute point, and 
gape-line commencing beneath the middle of the eyes. Head 
large, ovato-oblong ; neck short; body stout. Tarsus ex- 
tremely short ; anteriorly scaly ; anterior toes united for 
more than half their length, outer longer than inner, hind 
toe small. Claws stout, compressed, arched, very acute. 
Plumage rather compact. Wings rather long, pointed. Tail 
various, of twelve feathers. Tongue A^ery short, fleshy, with 
the sides parallel, the tip tapering to a bluntish point. Roof 
of upper mandible moderately concave, with a median ridge 
and oblique lateral grooves. (Esophagus yerj wide, with- 
out crop ; stomach very large, round, with its muscular coat 
very thin ; the epithelium dense, very thin, with tortuous 
rugae ; intestine very long, extremely slender ; no coeca ; 
cloaca very large, globular. Trachea with three pairs of 
inferior laryngeal muscles. 
GENUS I. ALCEDO, Linn. KINGFISHER. 
Bill long, straight, rather stout, broader than high at the 
