The EUROPEAN KINGFISHER (_Alcedo ispida_) is recognisable by its long,
thin, straight, and powerful beak, which is much compressed at its tip.
The foot is small; the centre of the three front toes is connected with
the external toe as far as the second, and with the short inner toe to the
first joint; the hind toe is very small; the third quill in the short,
blunt wing exceeds the rest in length; the tail is formed of twelve
small feathers. The thick, compact plumage is very brilliant, with a
metallic gloss above, and a silky gloss on the under side. The feathers
on the head are prolonged into a crest. As it would be impossible to
mistake the European Kingfisher for any other bird, it will suffice
to say that the upper portions of the body are greenish blue, and the
lower yellowish brown; the eye is deep brown, the beak bright red, and
the foot cinnabar-red. The length of this bird is six inches and a half,
the breadth ten inches and a half; the wing measures two inches and
two-thirds; the length of tail one inch and a half.
This Kingfisher, the only European representative of the above group, is
one of the most beautiful of our British birds, and its appearance as it
dashes along in the sunshine strikingly brilliant. It is an inhabitant of
all parts of Europe, except the extreme north, and is also widely spread
over Asia and Africa. This species is always found in the vicinity of
water, over which it may be seen shooting along like a little meteor. Its
food consists not only of small fishes, but also of aquatic insects and
leeches. The appetite of the Kingfisher is voracious, and his manners
shy and retiring. Dwelling near sequestered brooks and rivers, he sits
for hours together motionless and solitary on some bough overhanging the
stream, patiently watching the movements of the smaller fishes which
constitute his food, waiting for a favourable moment to dart with the
velocity of an arrow upon the first that comes near enough to the surface,
and seldom failing in his aim. He returns with it to his former station,
on some large stone or branch, where he kills his captive by shifting its
position in his bill, so as to grasp it firmly near the tail, and striking
its head smartly against the object on which he rests; he then reverses
its position and swallows it head foremost; the indigestible parts are
afterwards ejected in a manner analogous to that of Owls and other birds
of prey. The Kingfisher, however, does not confine himself to this mode
of watching in motionless solitude, but should the stream be broad, or no
favourable station for espionage present itself, he may be seen poising
himself over it at an altitude of ten or fifteen feet, scrutinising the
element below for his food, and then plunging upon it with a velocity
which often carries him considerably below the surface. For these habits
his muscular, wedge-shaped body, increasing gradually from a long,
pointed bill, and his sleek plumage, which, whilst it passes freely
through the water, is impervious to wet, seem especially to adapt him.
His wings are short, but powerful; hence his flight is smooth, even, and
exceedingly rapid. Silent, except during the pairing and breeding season,
when he occasionally utters a sharp, piercing cry, indicative, perhaps,
of attachment, and equally solitary and unsocial in his habits, the
Kingfisher dwells alone; seldom consorting with others, or even with his
mate, except during the rearing of the young, when both sexes discharge
with assiduity the duty of procuring requisite supplies of food. The
places selected for incubation are steep and secluded banks, overhanging
ponds or rivers, generally at a considerable distance above the surface
of the water, and extending two or three feet into the bank. The female,
without making a nest, lays five or six eggs, of a beautiful pinky white.
As soon as the young are hatched, the parent birds may be seen incessantly
passing to and from the hole with food, the ejected remains of which in a
short time accumulate around the callow brood. The young do not leave the
hole until fully fledged, when, seated on some neighbouring branch, they
may be known by their clamorous twitterings as they greet their parents,
from whom they impatiently expect supplies of food. They assume at an
early age a plumage nearly resembling the adult. The Kingfishers appear
to possess habits of partial migration; or, at least in our island, they
wander from the interior of the country along the rivers to the coast, and
in the autumnal and wintry months frequent the mouths of small rivulets
and dykes near the sea.
* * * * *
The PURPLE KINGFISHERS (_Ceyx_), a group inhabiting India, the Malay and
Philippine Islands, and New Guinea, are without the inner toe possessed by
the European Kingfisher above described. These birds have hitherto been
grouped with the Halcyones on account of the broad base of their beak; but
the shortness of their wings and tail, and their general habits, fully
justify their introduction in this place.