ALCEDO, Lin. &C. KINGFISHER.
Bill long, straight, quadrangular, pointed, sharp-edged, and very rarely depressed; nostrils basal, lateral, pierced obliquely, almost wholly closed by a naked membrane ; legs short, naked above the knee; tongue very short; fea thers glossy.
The birds of this genus are dispersed over the whole world, although only one species is found in Europe. They are more remarkable for brilliancy of plumage than ele gance of shape, their prevailing colours being blue, green, and orange ; but some of the larger species are of more obscure shadings, exhibiting a mixture of brown, black, and white, variously modified. Their flight is horizontal, and, notwithstanding the shortness of their wings, remark ably strong and rapid. Most of them frequent rivers, and the vicinity of waters, and live on fish, which they catch 11.- with singular art and dexterity, sometimes hovering over the stream, where a shoal of small fishes is seen playing near the surface, at other times waiting with attention on some low branch the approach of a single one, which may happen to move in that direction ; and, in either case, dropping like a stone, or rather darting with rapidity on their prey. Having seized the latter crosswise in their bill, they retire to a resting place to feed on it, and de vour it piece-meal, bones and all, afterwards bringing up the undigested parts in pellets, like other predacious birds.
ispida, Lin. &c. Common or European Kingfisher. Wing coverts dark green, fulvous beneath, with the back of a brilliant blue ; and the crown green, marked with transverse blue spots. The common kingfisher weighs one ounce and a quarter, and measures seven inches in length, and eleven in expanse of wing. It is diffused over the old continent, especially over the southern districts of Europe, in China, Egypt, at the Cape of Good Hope, &c. It is shy, solitary, and wary, frequenting the banks of streams and sea-shores, where it will sit for hours together on a projecting twig or a stone, now fluttering its wings, and exposing its brilliant plumage to the sun, and then hovering in the air like the kestril, watching for the mo ment when it may dart on its victim, which it does with almost unerring aim. Before it has gained the object of its pursuit, it will sometimes remain for several seconds under water, and then bring up the little fish, which it carries to the land, beats to death, and swallows. When sitting on the watch, the moment that it perceives the fish it will take a spring of twelve or fifteen feet upwards, and drop perpendicularly from that height. When it takes to flight, it spins its course in a direct line forwards, and with such rapidity that the motion of its wings is scarcely dis cernible; but it will occasionally stop short in its fleet career, at each pause remaining suspended, as it were, at the height of fifteen or twenty feet ; and, when it would change its place, it descends and skims along the surface of the water, and then rises and halts again. This repeat ed and long continued exercise evinces the uncommon strength of the muscles of its wings. When it falls on its victim, it utters a shrill scream, which has been expressed by the syllable kee, frequently repeated ; but, in spring, it has another song, which may be heard through the mur muring of the stream, or the dashing of the waterfall.
The sexes, which keep separate, except during the breed ing season, pair early in spring, when they usually take possession of a hole in the bank of a river or running stream, which had been excavated by a water rat, mole, sand martin, or land crab, and which they enlarge or con tract, or otherwise accommodate to their purpose. It is formed in an ascending direction, and generally penetrates two or three feet into the bank. At the end it is scooped into a hollow, at the bottom of which there is often a quantity of small fishes bones, nearly half an inch thick, mixed with a brown or glutinous earth, the castings of the parent birds, which repair to the spot, apparently for no other purpose than to eject this matter, and to dry it by the heat of their bodies, as they are frequently known to continue in the hole for hours together before there are any eggs. Mr. Bewick saw a specimen of a king-fisher's nest, which was entirely composed of the bones of small fishes and a brown viscid substance, and which, in the compactness of its form, resembled that of the chaffinch ; but it seems to be equally well ascertained, that, on vari ous occasions, these birds dispense with the formality of a regular nest. The eggs, which vary in number from four to nine, arc of a short oval form, and perfectly white and transparent. That the fa=ces of the unfledged brood, which sometimes render the nest extremely fetid, may run off, the passage is conducted in a slanting direction. As the old birds have nothing in their bills when they go in to feed the young, it is inferred that they discharge from their stomach the requisite supply. When the young are nearly full feathered, they are extremely voracious, and arc often betrayed by their chirping. In our northern latitudes, the kingfishers often fall a sacrifice to intense and pro tracted cold ; and, in inland situations, the freezing of the rivers may prove fatal to their existence by depriving them of food. In confinement they arc with difficulty kept alive, as they reject almost every thing but live fish, such as min nows, banstickles, Sic. We need scarcely observe, that this species is the halcyon of the ancients; that the poets placed it in a floating nest, and endowed it with power to calm the adverse winds and seas. Aristotle and Pliny grave ly relate that it sat only a few days, and those in the depth of winter, and that during that period the mariner might sail in full security ; whence the halcyon days, an expres sion which has descended to our own times. The flesh is strongly impregnated with a musky odour, and is not con sequently relished as an article of food.
I. gigantea, Lath. ?. fusca, Lin. Giant Kingfisher, or Great Brown Kingfisher. Slightly crested, brown above, whitish, with black undulations beneath ; wing-eoverts and rump pale sea-green, and the tail crossed by numer ous black bars. This is the largest species hitherto dis covered, measuring about eighteen inches from the tip of the bill to 'hat of the tail. It is a native of New Guinea, New Holland, and several of the smaller islands of the Southern Pacific. Its singular note has been compared by the natives of New Holland to the braying of the jack ass. The female has no crest.