THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.THE KINGFISHERS (Alcedinidæ).
The Kingfishers are a very varied family, including within their limits birds of very different form and habits. The bill is always long and powerful for the size of the bird, producing, in some of the smaller species, a top-heavy and ungainly aspect; but this organ is modified according to the habits of the birds, and is strictly in accordance with the functions which it has to perform. The foot is similar in all Kingfishers, the sole being very flat, and the toes joined together for the greater part of their length, so that the birds always have a very firm support to their bodies. The legs are very short and weak, the wings powerful, and the gape very wide. The Kingfishers may be divided into two sub-families, distinguished by the form of the bill, which is long and compressed in the fish-eating Kingfishers (Alcedininæ), of which the European bird is a type, with a distinct ridge or keel along the upper mandible; while in theDaceloninæ, which have a stouter and flatter bill, with a smooth and rounded culmen, the food is varied, consisting more of insects than of fish.
THE COMMON KINGFISHER (Alcedo[265]ispida).
COMMON KINGFISHER.
COMMON KINGFISHER.
This is, perhaps, the most brilliantly-coloured bird there is in England, but by reason of its shy habits and wonderfully quick flight it is not often observed, excepting as a flash of bright blue on the river side, appearing for an instant and gone the next. It is, however, by no means uncommon in many of the rivers in the south of England, particularly during the month of October, when a partial migration of the species evidently takes place. At this season of the year, the writer once observed a Kingfisher on the ornamental water in St. James’s Park. Beyond the British Islands it is found in most parts of the European continent, being replaced in the East by the little Indian Kingfisher (A. bengalensis), a miniature of the English bird, but with a much longer bill. The following account of the habits of this bird, the result of several years’ close acquaintance with the species on the river Thames, is taken from the author’s work on this subject[266]:—“When in a wild state, flying along the banks of a stream, or sitting patiently at watch for its finny prey, the Kingfisher is a beautiful sight. Often has it been our good fortune to witness the bird at close quarters, but this is by no means easy toaccomplish, owing to the extreme wariness of the bird from repeated persecution. The presence of the Kingfisher in one’s neighbourhood can be detected from some distance by the faint cry which falls upon the ear from afar. This note, which is a shrill, but not unmusical, scream, generally consists of two syllables, but is very difficult to render in language. Naumann gives it asti-ti, which is by no means a bad representation of the cry; and these syllables are quickly repeated as the bird leaves its perch and skims over the stream. The flight is rapid and very direct, the bird speeding like a bullet a little height above the surface of the water. When suddenly disturbed, it utters its cry shortly after leaving its perch, and then flies for some distance in silence; but when passing unmolested from one resting-place to another, its shrill note may be heard at frequent intervals. Just before perching, the cry is uttered three or four times successively—ti-ti-ti. When resting, it sits uprightly, with the glance directed downwards, motionlessly scanning the stream beneath, intent on the capture of any fish or water insect which may come within its reach. Its unerring dive seldom proves fruitless; and when secured, a few smart raps on its perch, to which the bird always returns, deprive the victim of life, after which it is immediately swallowed. Except in the early morning, it seldom chooses a very open position for its resting-place; but in the autumn, when the migration is in progress, at break of day it is not unusual to see two, or even three, birds in company on a rail or on the side of a punt; in the day-time, however, it loves solitude, and seldom more than one can be seen at once, and then it affects more shady and secluded haunts. In general it is a lonely bird, jealous of intrusion, especially from individuals of its own species. Each pair appears to choose and maintain a particular hunting-ground, and should one Kingfisher enter upon the domain of another, it is speedily and effectually ousted by the rightful owner with cries of rage. So fierce is the animosity displayed by these birds, that when excited in combat they fly heedless of obstacles, and thus occasionally meet their death in their headlong career.” An instance is on record of two Kingfishers flying with such violence against a window that both pursuer and pursued met their death on the spot. The present species does not always pounce on its prey from a perch, but will occasionally fly out over the mid-stream, and hover in the air like a Kestrel Hawk; and after making an unsuccessful plunge, will repeat its hovering position over the same spot, until its efforts are rewarded with success. It has been seen also to dash into the water several times in succession, which movement has been supposed to be for the purpose of attracting fish to the spot by disturbing the water; it is, however, more probable that in this exercise the bird is taking a bath. The young have exactly the same cry as their parents, but the note is less shrill. On leaving the nest, they often congregate in some well-shaded locality by the side of the stream, where food is brought to them by their parents, and the presence of the nestlingsis often betrayed by their shrill pipings. The bill in the young birds is very short, and has a little white tip to it; in the adult male it is entirely black; but the female may always be distinguished by the base of the lower mandible being red.
That the Kingfisher makes its own hole is now an ascertained fact, and the following note on the subject was published in 1866 by Mr. G. Dawson Rowley:—“Though the subject of the Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida) is somewhat stale, yet, in consequence of the remarks which I have just read in the OctoberQuarterlyon ‘Homes without Hands,’ I send you the following notes, made this spring, in order to set at rest, if possible, a mistake regarding the breeding of this bird. Modern writers on the Kingfisher are hardly more free from error than even Ovid or Pliny. The bird is a true miner, and makes a nest of fish-bones; but, as no rule is without an exception, when it cannot find a suitable bank to bore in, it has been known to nidificate in abnormal situations; and when abundance of proper fish are not to be caught it is obliged to do without bones.
“From many years’ constant watching, I can exactly tell the probable position of the hole, and the day it will be begun. Accordingly, on Thursday, March 29, I sent two witnesses to a particular spot on the River Ouse, St. Neots, Huntingdonshire. They observed that there was on that day positively no hole of any kind, no vestige of hole, in that bank. On Easter Monday, April 2, I sent a keeper to the place. He reported the hole as begun. On the same day I went in a boat, and, putting a reed up, found it by actual measurement about fifteen inches deep, the moulds being quite fresh outside. Droppings of the bird (which was seen constantly leaving the hole) were visible in two places. There was also a shallow hole a little to the left of the above-mentioned one. This was a failure—either from caprice or some other cause abandoned. We observe the same in Woodpeckers, which will sometimes bore in three or four places before they get one to their liking, a circumstance I particularly remarked in a pair of the Greater Spotted Woodpeckers (P. major) last spring. Between March 29 and April 2 the Kingfisher had made two holes. I thought it best now to leave the place, only receiving from the keeper each morning a report, as he went by in his boat, how the bird was going on.
“Saturday, April 7, I made a memorandum: ‘I again observe fresh moulds, but not, as we consider, to-day’s, but yesterday’s: hence I suppose the hole to be nearly finished, if not quite.’ Here, I should say, after taking these nests constantly for nearly thirty years, I find twenty-one days is the correct time, from the commencement of the excavation to the end of laying seven eggs. I never had the luck to find eight; Mr. Gould, however, informs me he once did. ‘Saturday, April 21. Opened the hole situated in the perpendicular bank to keep off Water-rats. Found by measurement the entrance was twelve inches from the surface of the ground, and about five feet from the water. The length of the ascending gallery was eight inches and a half, and the oval chamber six inches in diameter more. The top of the chamber was nine inches from the surface of the ground. It contained the usual nest of fish-bones, which was one inch and a half deep; and the same, with the seven fresh eggs, are now before me, with two other nests from the same locality. The bird flew off after the first dig, which I commonly made so as to cover up the hole again without disturbance if the full number of eggs had not been laid. There was no excrement in the chamber, but much just outside in the gallery.’ The size of the chamber is just sufficient for the owners to turn round pleasantly. When the young birds, which I have seen in every stage, have been some time in the nest, of course the hole gets very foul. Here, then, is a case, capable of being attested by two or three witnesses step by step—and concerning which there can be no doubt—where the Kingfisher is proved to have made its own hole. I have known it when driven from one bank by floods to revert to an old hole of its own making in the previous year; but never has there been an instance of its taking up with the abode of its most deadly enemy, the Water-rat. It is hard to prove a negative, but it is certainly a most unlikely thing for a Kingfisher to enter a rat-hole. No one who has seen the eggs of this speciesin situas often as I have can deny that the fish-bones are placed with the design of making a nest.”
In the British Museum may be seen a nest of the Kingfisher, which was taken by Mr. Gould under the following circumstances:—“On the 18th of April, 1859, during one of my fishing excursions on the Thames, I saw a hole in a precipitous bank, which I felt assured was the nesting-place of a Kingfisher; and on passing a spare top of my fly rod to the extremity, a distance of nearlythree feet, I brought out some freshly-cast bones of fish, convincing me that I was right in my surmise. The day following I again visited the spot with a spade, and, after removing nearly two feet square of the turf, dug down to the nest without disturbing the passage which led to it. Here I found four eggs placed on the usual layer of fish-bones. These I removed with care, and then replaced the earth, beating it down as hard as the bank itself, and restored the turfy sod. A fortnight after the bird was seen to leave the hole again, and my suspicions were aroused that she had taken to her old breeding quarters a second time. I again visited the place on the twenty-first day from the date of my former exploration, and upon passing the top of my fly rod up the hole, found, not only that it was of the former length, but that the female was within. I then took a large mass of cotton-wool from my collecting-box, and stuffed it to the extremity, in order to preserve the eggs from damage during my again laying it open from above. On removing the sod and digging down as before, I came to the cotton-wool, and beneath it was formed a nest of fish-bones the size of a small saucer, the walls of which were fully half an inch thick, together with eight translucent pinky-white eggs, and the old female herself. This nest I removed with the greatest care; and it is now deposited in the proper place for so interesting an object—the British Museum. This mass of bones, then weighing 700 grains, had been cast up and deposited by the bird and its mate in the short space of twenty-one days. Ornithologists are divided in opinion as to whether the fish-bones are to be considered in the light of a nest. Some are disposed to believe them to be the castings and fæces of the young brood of the year, and that the same hole being frequented for a succession of years, a great mass is at length formed; while others suppose that they are deposited by the parents as a platform for the eggs, constituting, in fact, a nest; and I think, from what I have adduced, we may fairly conclude this is the case: in fact, nothing could be better adapted to defend the eggs from the damp earth.” In ancient times there was a legend that when the Kingfishers made their nests—which were supposed to float upon the top of the sea—fine weather was always allowed to prevail.[267]A custom used formerly to be in vogue in England of turning a Kingfisher into a weathercock; and, according to the late M. Jules Verreaux, this practice is pursued in France even in the present day, where the bird is mummified and suspended by a thread with extended wings in order to show the direction of the wind. Mr. Harting alludes to these superstitions in his “Ornithology of Shakespeare” (p. 275). It was formerly believed that during the time the Halcyon, or Kingfisher, was engaged in hatching her eggs, the water, in kindness to her, remained so smooth and calm that the mariner might venture on the sea with the happy certainty of not being exposed to storms or tempests; this period was therefore called, by Pliny and Aristotle, “the halcyon days.”
“Expect Saint Martin’s summer,halcyondays.”Henry VI., Part i., Act i., sc. 2.
“Expect Saint Martin’s summer,halcyondays.”Henry VI., Part i., Act i., sc. 2.
“Expect Saint Martin’s summer,halcyondays.”Henry VI., Part i., Act i., sc. 2.
“Expect Saint Martin’s summer,halcyondays.”
Henry VI., Part i., Act i., sc. 2.
It was also supposed that the dead bird, carefully balanced and suspended by a single thread, would always turn its beak towards that point of the compass from which the wind blew. Kent, inKing Lear(Act ii. sc. 2), speaks of rogues who—
“Turn theirhalcyonbeaksWith every gale and vary of their masters.”
“Turn theirhalcyonbeaksWith every gale and vary of their masters.”
“Turn theirhalcyonbeaksWith every gale and vary of their masters.”
“Turn theirhalcyonbeaks
With every gale and vary of their masters.”
And, after Shakspere, Marlowe, in hisJew of Malta, says:—
“But how now stands the wind?Into what corner peers myhalcyon’sbill?”
“But how now stands the wind?Into what corner peers myhalcyon’sbill?”
“But how now stands the wind?Into what corner peers myhalcyon’sbill?”
“But how now stands the wind?
Into what corner peers myhalcyon’sbill?”
The Common Kingfisher measures about seven inches from the tip of his bill to the end of his tail. The colour of the upper parts is blue, greener on the mantle and scapulars, and beautiful rich cobalt on the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts; the head is blue, barred with black, the wings blue, with spots of brighter cobalt on the coverts; in front of the eye is a spot of rufous, this being also the colour of the eye-coverts and under parts; the throat is white, and there is a patch of white on each side of the neck; the cheeks and sides of the breast are blue, the bill is black, the feetred. The female is coloured like the male, but can always be told by the red colour at the base of the under mandible. This is also present in young birds of both sexes, but the latter can readily be distinguished by their shorter bills.
PIED KINGFISHER.⇒LARGER IMAGE
PIED KINGFISHER.
⇒LARGER IMAGE
Species of the genusAlcedoare distributed over the greater part of the Old World, extending even into the Molucca Islands, but in Australia and the Papuan group they are represented by the genusAlcyone, comprising Kingfishers of similar form to the English bird, but distinguished by the absence of the inner toe. In Africa and Madagascar some beautiful little crested Kingfishers (Corythornis) are met with, the largest of which scarcely exceeds five inches in length. A very familiar species on the banks of the Nile is the Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle[268]rudis), one of the commonest birds in Africa and India, and of this species Dr. von Heuglin writes[269]:—“It lives in pairs, is sociable, and, except during the breeding season, more friendly with members of its own species than other Kingfishers, and often several pairs dwell in the same neighbourhood. It sits and watches along the shore on overhanging branches, on roofs, walls, brickets, rocks, and even on the ground, but seldom pounces from the latter on its prey. From time to time it takes a flight over shallow clear water, also right across the river or from one island to another, sometimes very low, generally, however, several fathoms above the surface. Its flight is not very swift, but straight, and steadied by quick, fluttering motions of the wing—not rushing, like that ofAlcedo ispida—and it rises and falls according to will and with great agility. One often sees it, after taking a start by several quick flaps of the wing, and gliding on for a distance, suddenly, with one quick movement, alter the direction of the flight and suddenly stop and hover. When hovering, the bill is held straight down, and the hind part of the body and tail also rather lowered. Directly it catches sight of its scaly prey it turns up, lays its feathers close to the body, and drops like a stone into the water, remaining often over ten seconds below the surface. It seldom misses its mark, and devours the fish it has captured either on the wing or at one of its resting-places. The voice is a shrill whistle, at the same time chirpy, or at times snickery. During the pairing time the males often fight on the wing, and roll together, calling loudly, nearly to the surface of the water. In Egypt the breeding season is our spring; according to Adams, as early as December. The nest, consisting of a small heap of clean dry grass, is placed in a horizontal hole about arm’s depth in a steep bank, and contains four to six pure white roundish eggs, the shell of which is rather rough compared with that ofAlcedo ispida. Often several nest-holes are close together. The plumage of the young much resembles that of the adult. There is scarcely any bird on the Nile tamer than the Black and White Kingfisher.” The genusCeryle, to which the foregoing species belongs, is largely represented in the New World, one of the best known being the Belted Kingfisher of North America, and an unusual circumstance in fish-eating Kingfishers is characteristic of the genus, viz., a difference in the colouring of the sexes. The Stork-billed Kingfishers (Pelargopsis[270]) are the most powerful members of the sub-family, some of them measuring nearly a foot and a half in length.
More difference in form and size is perceptible in the omnivorous Kingfishers (Daceloninæ), where some of the little three-toed species ofCeyxdo not exceed five inches in length, whereas the Great Laughing Jackasses of Australia (Dacelo) attain the dimensions of more than a foot and a half. The smaller birds of this section feed almost entirely on insects, and the Rose-cheeked Kingfisher of Africa (Ispidina[271]picta) feeds principally on Grasshoppers and small Locusts, while its representative in Natal (I. natalensis) is said to feed entirely on Butterflies and insects caught on the wing. They are often found along the banks of rivers, but never catch fish. The large genusHalcyonis distributed all over Africa, and ranges throughout Southern Asia, through China, to Japan, inhabiting also the islands of the Malay Archipelago and the entire Continent of Australia. These birds prefer a mixed diet, and, in addition to an occasional fish, they will also eat crustacea, small reptiles, and insects. Perhaps the most beautiful of all the Kingfisher family are theTanysipteræ,[272]which are found only in New Guinea, the adjacent Moluccas, and the north-east peninsula of Australia. These birds have only ten tail-feathers, the middle pair being very much longer than the rest, and ending in a spatule or racket. They live entirely in the forests, feeding on insects, and they are said to roost in the holes of rocks by the side of small streams. The best known species ofTanysipterais the Australian Cinnamon-breasted Kingfisher (T. sylvia), which was discovered by the late Mr. John Macgillivray, who gives the following account of its habits:—“This prettyTanysipterais rather plentiful in the neighbourhood of Cape York, where it frequents the dense bushes, and is especially fond of resorting to the sunny openings in the woods, attracted, probably, by the greater abundance of insect food found in such places than elsewhere. I never saw it on the ground, and usually was first made aware of its presence by the glancing of its bright colours as it darted past with a rapid arrow-like flight, and disappeared in an instant amongst the dense foliage. Its cry, which may be represented bywhee-whe-wheeandwheet-wheet-wheet, is usually uttered when the bird is perched on a bare, transverse branch, or woody, rope-like climber, which it uses as a look-out station, and whence it makes short dashes at any passing insect or small Lizard, generally returning to the same spot. It is a shy, suspicious bird, and one well calculated to try the patience of the shooter, who may follow it for an hour without getting a shot, unless he has as keen an eye as a native, to whom I was indebted for first pointing it out to me. According to the natives, who know it by the name ofQuatawur, it lays three white eggs in a hole dug by itself in one of the large ant-hills of red clay which form so remarkable a feature in the neighbourhood, some of them being as much as ten feet in height, with numerous buttresses and pinnacles. I believe that the bird also inhabits New Guinea; for at Redscar Bay, on the south-east of that great island, in long. 146° 15′ E., a head strung upon a necklace was procured from the natives.”
LAUGHING JACKASS.
LAUGHING JACKASS.
The largest of all the Kingfishers are the Laughing Jackasses of Australia, this curious name being given to the bird from its strange note and peculiar look, both of which can be appreciatedby any visitor to the London Zoological Gardens, where there is generally one, if not two, out of the seven species known. Of the bird in its native haunts a very good idea is given us by the “Old Bushman,” the late Mr. Henry Wheelwright, which is here taken from a little work called the “Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist.” “About an hour before sunrise the bushman is awakened by the most discordant sounds, as if a troop of fiends were shouting, whooping, and laughing around him in one wild chorus: this is the morning song of the ‘Laughing Jackass,’ warning his feathered mates that daybreak is at hand. At noon the same wild laugh is heard, and as the sun sinks into the west it again rings through the forest. I shall never forget the first night I slept in the open bush in this country. It was in the Black Forest. I woke about daybreak, after a confused sleep, and for some minutes I could not remember where I was, such were the extraordinary sounds that greeted my ears; the fiendish laugh of the Jackass, the clear, flute-like note of the Magpie, the hoarse cackle of the Wattle-birds, the jargon of flocks of Leatherheads, and the screaming of thousands of Parrots as they dashed through the forest, all joining chorus, formed one of the most extraordinary concerts I have ever heard, and seemed at the moment to have been got up for the purpose of welcoming the stranger to this land of wonders on that eventful morning. I have heard it hundreds of times since, but never with the same feelings that I listened to it then. The Laughing Jackass is the bushman’s clock, and being by no means shy, of a companionable nature, a constant attendant about the bush-tent, and a destroyer of Snakes, is regarded, like the Robin at home, as a sacred bird in the Australian forests. It is an uncouth-looking bird, a huge species of land Kingfisher, nearly the size of a Crow, of a rich chestnut brown and dirty white colour; the wings slightly chequered with light blue, after the manner of the British Jay; the tail-feathers long, rather pointed, and barred with brown. It has the foot of a Kingfisher; a very formidable, long, pointed beak, and a large mouth; it has also a kind of crest, which it erects when angry or frightened, and this gives it a very ferocious appearance. It is a common bird in all the forest throughout the year; breeds in a hole of a tree, and the eggs are white; generally seen in pairs, and by no means shy. Their principal food appears to be small reptiles, grubs, and caterpillars. As I said before, it destroys Snakes. I never but once saw them at this game: a pair of Jackasses had disabled a Carpet-Snake under an old gum-tree, and they sat on a dead branch above it, every now and then darting down and pecking it, and by their antics and chattering seemed to consider it a capital joke. I can’t say whether they ate the Snake—I fancy not; at least the only reptiles I have ever found in their stomachs have been small Lizards. The first sight that struck me on landing in London was a poor old Laughing Jackass moped up in a cage in Ratcliffe Highway. I never saw a more miserable, woe-begone object. I quite pitied my poor old friend, as he sat dejected on his perch; and the thought struck me at the time that we were probably neither of us benefited in changing the quiet freedom of the bush for the noise and bustle of the modern Babylon.” The Common Laughing Jackass has the sexes alike, but in all the other species the male has a blue tail and the female a red one.