KINGFISHER, a bird of the family Alce dinidce, characterized by the short, compact body and large head, with a large, straight, acute bill; the somewhat usually short, square tail of 12 rectrices, the short rounded wings having 10 primary quills; the short, weak legs and nearly unique cohesion of the middle and outer toes. Two sub-families are commonly recognized, the Dacelonime, or with a broader, depressed, sometimes curved bill and usually insectivorous habits; and the Alcedinidce, or true kingfish ers, with a compressed, carinated bill, and usu ally piscivorous. About 20 genera and 125 species have been described, half of which are confined to the Australian region. About five genera and 50 species are distributed between tropical Africa and Asia, one species alone, the brilliantly colored Alcedo ispida, is found in Europe; while all of America has only eight species of Ceryle, three of which extend their range into the United States. Of these three, two (Ceryle torquata and C. americana) are really Mexican and Central American, but the third, the belted kingfisher (C. Alcyon), is a widely distributed and highly characteristic member of the North American avifauna. Throughout North America, from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is the summer breeding-home of the belted king fisher, which in winter retreats south of the limit of freezing. The large, crested head, very large bill and deep blue color, with black and white markings and largely white under parts, give to this bird a very characteristic aspect, which is heightened by its peculiar hab its. Each pair selects a hunting-ground some where in the vicinity of water, and other pairs seldom intrude upon this preserve. There the kingfisher perches on a tree overhanging the water and watches for the passage of a fish, when it plunges headlong and usually emerges with a small fish held firmly in the beak As it rises a spasmodic shake dispels the water from its compact oily plumage, and on ing to its perch, the fish is usually tossed into the air and swallowed head first. Sometimes
the kingfisher hunts more in the manner of a i tern and plunges from a suspended position in mid-air. The only call is a peculiarly loud, harsh, rattling cry. A burrow six to nine feet long, dug horizontally into a bank, serves as a nesting place, in the slightly enlarged end of which the six or eight pure white eggs are laid on a bed of regurgitated fish bones.
The dacelonine kingfishers have very differ ent habits, and might more properly be called kinghunters. They are usually woodland birds, caring little for the neighborhood of water, since their food consists of insects caught mainly on the wing, or else of tree-frogs, liz ards and other small reptiles found on the ground or about trees. The jackass kingfisher (q.v.) of Australia is a prominent example. A peculiar group of the Papuan Islands (genus Tanysiptera) has long, racket-shaped tail feathers and other peculiarities of plumage. The small East Indian species have only three toes. Those of Africa are inhabitants of deep woods, but when hard pressed for food will resort to streams and pick up small fishes. All these breed in holes in trees and not in earth burrows.
Consult Cones, E., 'Key to North American Birds' (Boston 1903); Evans, 'Birds' (Cam bridge Natural History, Vol. IX); Sharpe, 'Monograph of the and American and European ornithologies.