82 K I N K I N
therein laid, or hung by a thread to the ceiling of a chamber would point with its bill to the quarter whence the wind blew. All readers of Ovid (Metam., bk. xi.) know how the faithful but unfortunate Ceyx and Alcyone were changed into Kingfishers – birds which bred at the winter solstice, when through the influence of Æolus, the wind-god and father of the fond wife, all gales were hushed and the sea calmed so that their floating nest might ride uninjured over the waves during the seven proverbial "Halcyon Days"; while a variant or further development of the fable assigned to the Halcyon itself the power of quelling storms.[1]
The common Kingfisher of Europe is the representative of a well-marked Family of birds, the Alcedinidæ or Halcyonidæ of ornithologists, which is considered by some authorities[2] to be closely related to the Bucerotidæ (see Hornbill, vol. xii. p. 169); but the affinity can scarcely be said as yet to be proved; and to the present writer there seems to be at least some ground for believing that a nearer alliance is to be found in the Galbulidæ (see Jacamar, vol. xiii. p. 531), Momotidæ (Motmot, q.v.), Meropidæ, and perhaps some other Families – though all may possibly be discovered to belong to one and the same larger group. Be that as it may, the present Family forms the subject of a work by Mr Sharpe,[3] which, though still incomplete as regards their anatomy,[4] is certainly one of the best of its class, and reflects infinite credit on its then youthful author, whose treatment of his subject was most successful. Herein are described one hundred and twenty-five species, nearly all of them being beautifully figured by Mr Keulemans, and that number may be taken even now as approximately correct; for, while the validity of a few has been denied by some eminent men, nearly as many have since been made known, and it seems likely that two or three more described by older writers may yet be rediscovered. These one hundred and twenty-five species Mr Sharpe groups in nineteen genera, and divides into two Sub-families, Alcedininæ, and Daceloninæ,[5] the one containing five and the other fourteen genera. With existing materials perhaps no better arrangement could have been made, but in the absence of anatomical knowledge it is certainly not to be deemed conclusive, and indeed the method since published by Sundevall (Tentamen, pp. 95, 96) differs from it not inconsiderably. Here, however, it will be convenient to follow that of Mr Sharpe. Externally, which is almost all we can at present say, Kingfishers present a great uniformity of structure. One of their most remarkable features is the feebleness of their feet, and the union (syndactylism) of the third and fourth digits for the greater part of their length; while, as if still further to show the comparatively functionless character of these members, in two of the genera, Alcyone and Ceyx, the second digit is aborted, and the birds have but three toes. In most forms the bill does not differ much from that of the common Alcedo ispida, but in Syma its edges are serrated, while in Carcineutes, Dacelo, and Melidora the maxilla is prolonged, becoming in the last a very pronounced hook, Generally the wings are short and rounded, and the tail is in many forms inconspicuous; but in Tanysiptera, one of the most beautiful groups, the middle pair of feathers is greatly elongated and spatulate, while this genus possesses only ten rectrices, all the rest having twelve. Sundevall relies on a character not noticed by Mr Sharpe, and makes his principal divisions depend on the size of the scapulars, which in one form a mantle, and in the other are so small as not to cover the back. The Alcedinidæ, are a cosmopolitan Family, but only one genus, Ceryle, is found in America, and that extends as well over a great part of the Old World, though not into the Australian Region, which affords by far the greater number both of genera and species, having no fewer than ten of the former and fifty-nine of the latter peculiar to it.[6]
In habits Kingfishers display considerable diversity, though all, it would seem, have it in common to sit at times motionless on the watch for their prey, and on its appearance to dart upon it, seize it as they fly or dive, and return to a perch where it may be conveniently swallowed. But some, species, and especially that which is the type of the Family, are not always content to await at rest their victim s showing itself. They will hover like a Hawk over the waters that conceal it, and, in the manner already described, precipitate themselves upon it. This is parti cularly the way with those that are fishers in fact as well as in name; but no inconsiderable number live almost entirely in forests, feeding on insects, while reptiles furnish the chief sustenance of others. The last is characteristic of at least one Australian form, which manages to thrive in the driest districts of that country, where not a drop of water is to be found for miles, and the air is at times heated to a degree that is insupportable by most animals. The limits of this article forbid an entrance upon details of much interest, but the Belted Kingfisher of North America, Ceryle alcyon, is too characteristic a bird of that country to be passed in silence, though its habits greatly resemble those of the European species before described; and the so-called "Laughing Jackass" of New South Wales and South Australia, Dacelo gigas – with its kindred forms, D. leachi, D. cervina, and D. occidentalis, from other parts of the country – likewise requires special notice. Attention must also be called to the speculations of Mr Sharpe (op. cit,, pp. xliv.-xlvii.) on the genetic affinity of the various forms of Alcedinidæ, and it is to be regretted that hitherto no light has been shed by palæontologists on this interesting subject, for the only fossil referred to the neighbourhood of the Family is the Halcyornis toliapicus of Professor Owen (Br. Foss. Mamm. and Birds, p. 554) from the Eocene of Sheppey – the very specimen said to have been previously placed by König (Icon. foss. sectiles, fig. 153) in the genus Larus. (A. N.)
KINGLET, a name applied in many books to the bird called by Linnæus Motacilla regidus, and by most modern ornithologists Regulus cristatus, the Golden-crested or Golden-crowned Wren of ordinary persons. This species is the type of a small group which has been generally placed among the Sylviidæ or true Warblers, but by certain systematists it is referred to the Titmouse-Family, Paridæ. That the Kinglets possess many of the habits and actions of the latter is undeniable, but on the other hand they are not known to differ in any important points of organization or appearance from the former – the chief distinction being that the nostril is covered by a single bristly feather directed forwards. The Golden-crested Wren is the smallest of British birds, its whole length being about 3 inches and a half, and its wing measuring only 2 inches from the carpal joint. Generally of an olive-green colour, the top of its head is bright yellow, deepening into orange, and bounded on either side by a black line, while the wing
- ↑ In many of the islands of the Pacific Ocean the prevalent Kingfisher is the object of much veneration.
- ↑ Cf. Eyton, Contrib. Ornithology, 1850, p. 80; Wallace, Ann. Nat. History, ser. 2, xviii., pp. 201, 205; and Huxley, Proc. Zool. Society, 1867, p. 467.
- ↑ A Monograph of the Alcedinidæ or Family of the Kingfishers, by R. B. Sharpe, 4to, London, 1868-71.
- ↑ Some important anatomical points are briefly noticed by Professor Cunningham (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1870, p. 280).
- ↑ The name of this latter Sub-family as constituted by Mr Sharpe would seem to be more correctly Ceycinæ – the genus Ceyx, founded in 1801 by Lacépède, being the oldest included in it. The word Dacelo, invented by Leach in 1815, is simply an anagram of Alcedo, and, though of course without any etymological meaning, has been very generally adopted.
- ↑ Cf. Wallace, Geog. Distr. Animals, ii. p. 315.
