[Illustration]
"What color is the kingfisher? Not the American one, but the European
and Asiatic one? My husband is painting one and needs to know the
colors," a lady's voice came over the telephone. I thought quickly.
"Will it help if I explain the various kinds and colors of kingfishers
and where they live? But no, lessons on taxonomy and zoogeography
fall too flat most of the time." The lady's voice had a Central
European quality. To her "the kingfisher" probably meant the little
sparrow-sized kingfisher of the Old World scientists know as _Alcedo
atthis_. So I'd better start with that. I described the cobalt-blue
back, with darker wings, and dark bars on the crown; an earth-brown
stripe through the side of the head, paling to whitish posteriorly,
and with ocherous underparts.
"What color is the eye?"
"Brown."
"And the feet?"
"Red."
"And the nails?"
"Black."
She thanked me prettily. I tried to tell her about some of the other
kingfishers, but she said no, she had enough, and hung up.
I sighed and thought regretfully of all the other things I had ready to
tell her.
In the United States we think of the kingfisher as the belted
kingfisher, larger than a jay, with a tousled crest and a voice like
a watchman's rattle. But there are other species farther south in
the Americas, and in the Old World there are still more. The tropics
are their home. Only one species reaches Northern United States, and
only one reaches Britain. But in New Guinea, for instance, there are
about twenty-four of the ninety or so known kinds of kingfishers; the
smallest tiny as a warbler, the largest nearly crow size.
Kingfishers, we call them, but many live on the dry land, and instead
of catching fish catch insects or other tiny animals from the ground.
One large species, with a broad shovel-like bill, is even reputed to
dig in the earth to get its food of earthworms.
They all look much alike in shape. Once you overcome your surprise at
seeing a kingfisher as big as a crow, or smaller than a sparrow, you
recognize one anywhere--big-headed, large-billed birds with tiny feet
that sit up quietly much of the time. Blue is a common color, but not
all are blue. Some are generally reddish in color, some patterned with
browns, grays, and whites tinged with blue. Many are decorated with
crests, and a few species have elongated spatulate-tipped central tail
feathers that have earned the species the name paradise kingfishers.
Its voice has given one species its name: the laughing jackass, the
jackass kingfisher, or the kookaburra of Australia. "Ha ha huh huh ho
ha ha huk" in a deafening chorus has been given as a description of its
call. A. H. S. Lucas and W. H. D. Le Souëf, no doubt with tongue in
cheek, record that "_on dit_ that the jackass has been heard to laugh
while a cicada [it had eaten whole] has been skirring inside him."
CLASSICAL ALLUSIONS Halcyon, Alcyone, and Ceyx appear in the scientific
names of kingfishers. Scientific names make the layman shudder. Latin,
he says, and if he's told they're not Latin, but rather Greek, it
doesn't help any. But once you know the story of Halcyon (or Alcyone)
and Ceyx, the names stick in your mind. In ancient times Halcyon was
the daughter of Aeolus. And in grief for her drowned husband, Ceyx, she
threw herself into the sea. The gods, out of compassion, changed both
into kingfishers. Halcyon was also used by the Greeks as a name for the
kingfisher and it was fabled to make its nest on the sea, and to quiet
the waves for its incubation period. Poets still use Halcyon for the
kingfishers in reference to calm, happy, peaceful days, Halcyon days;
the sort of days in which the kingfishers can nest on the quiet waves.
The lady had not waited for all this. She had gone. I would have liked
to see the picture her husband was painting when it was finished.