7 o 
PICARIAN BIRDS. 
rollers, the deep plantar tendons of the foot are peculiar, the tendon which usually 
supplies the first toe not serving that function in these three families, for the toe 
in question is connected with the tendon which usually works the three front toes. 
The eggs of the kingfishers are always laid in the hole of a bank of some kind, 
or a tree, and are glossy white; while the young birds, when hatched, are naked 
and helpless, although in a little while they become covered with feathers, each of 
which is enclosed in a sheath, thus giving the nestling a peculiar bristly appear¬ 
ance. This sheath encloses the feather till it is almost fully grown, and then falls 
off rapidly, leaving the feathers exposed; although in all kingfishers and their 
allies the plumage is never very dense. Indeed, in birds which have to plunge into 
the water a fluffy plumage would be greatly in the way, and hence we have in the 
kingfishers a closely-fitting body-plumage, which does not get draggled or wet 
through by the immersion which it has to undergo. 
In 1871 the writer divided the kingfishers into two subfamilies, namely, the 
fish-eating Alcedinince, and the insect or reptile-eating Dacelonince ; and even now 
the kingfishers seem still to afford an illustration of the utility of considering the 
habits of the birds as of primary importance. In this instance characters may be 
found which can be correlated with the difference in the mode of life. Thus the 
fish-eating kingfishers are equipped for their manner of living by the development 
of a long and narrow bill, and a tail just long enough to act as a rudder, but not of 
sufficient length to be in the way. On the other hand, the bush-kingfishers, which 
feed less on fish and more on insects and reptiles, have the bill not so narrow or 
compressed, but more flattened, and in some instances even hooked. Then, again, 
whereas in the typical subfamily there is almost always a perceptible groove along 
the bill, leaving the upper part of it in the form of a ridge, in the second group 
the ridge of the bill is either rounded or flattened, and in one or two instances 
there is even a groove along the middle of its upper surface. 
Stork-Billed This subfamily includes five genera, the members of all of which 
Kingfishers. are essentially fish-catchers, although on occasion they will eat small 
insects and crustaceans as well as other kinds of food. Two of the genera, viz. 
Pelargopsis and Ceryle, although their representatives are thoroughly piscivorous, 
have long tails, exceeding the length of the wings; but in the other three, viz. 
Alcedo, Corythornis, and Alcyone, the tail is conspicuously shorter than the wings. 
The stork-billed kingfishers inhabit the Oriental region, and differ from the species 
of Ceryle, the only other fish-eating genus with a long tail, in having the sexes 
alike in colour, the bill very sharp and pointed, and the base of the upper edge or 
culmen flattened and somewhat ridged, instead of being round and smooth. The 
species of this genus are further characterised by their bright blue backs, thus 
resembling those of the under-mentioned Halcyon, whereas in Ceryle there is no 
bright blue colour. Of the stork-billed kingfishers eleven species are known, 
their range extending from the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, through the 
Burmese and Malayan countries to Java, Sumatra, the Philippines, Borneo, and 
Celebes. The species which inhabits the last island differs from all the 
others in having a black bill, whereas in the rest it is coral-red. One of the best 
known species is the Indian stork-billed kingfisher (P. gurial), which is a large 
bird, measuring 14 inches in length, with a wing of nearly 04 inches. The general 
