THE KING-FISHERS.
KING FISHERS.
KING FISHERS.
KING FISHERS.
The King-fishers, the Martin-fishers of some authors, form a highly interesting group. They are very singular Birds. Their bill is strong, straight and angular, being of immense length compared with their size. Living on the banks of rivers, they feed almost exclusively on Fish, watching patiently from a fixed station, generally a naked twig overhanging the water, or a stone projecting above the surface, for its prey. In this position it will sometimes remain for hours, absolutely immovable.
When a Fish comes within reach, with great rapidity the King-fisher darts upon it, seizing it in its powerful mandibles, and after destroying it by compression, or by knocking it against a stone or the trunk of a tree, swallows it head foremost.
When Fish are scarce they feed upon aquatic Insects, which they seize on the wing. They build their nests in the steep banks of rivers, either in the natural crevices, or in holes hollowed out by Water-rats; and these dwelling places are generally littered by the fragments of their food. Father and mother sit alternately, and when the young are hatched they feed them with the produce of their fishing. The Bird has a shrill and piercing note, which it utters on the wing.
The Bee-eaters have the beak long, thin, slightly curved and pointed; the wings are long and pointed; the tail is well-developed, tapering or forked. They are slender, graceful Birds. Their cries, while they skim through the air on rapid wing, are constant. The name of Bee-eaters they receive from their principal food, which consists of large bees and wasps. They seize their prey either on the wing, like the Swallows, or secrete themselves at the entrance to a hive, and catch the inmates that enter or depart, whose stings they are skilful in avoiding. Living together in numerous flocks, they rapidly clear a district of wasps and bees.
They build their nests in the banks of rivers or rivulets, in holes which they excavate to the depth of six or seven feet.
The Motmots are Birds still very imperfectly known. They are remarkably massive in form, heavy and slow on the wing. In the Motmots the beak is long, robust and crenated at the edge. They are very wild, and lead an isolated life in the thick forests of South America, where they build in holes in trees. They are about the size of a Magpie and many of that Bird’s bad qualities are attributed to the Brazilian Motmot.
This group is characterized by a long, slender beak, straight or curved, but always without indentation, and comprises the Humming-birds, Creepers, Nuthatches and Hoopoes.