or KINGFISHER, in ornithology, a genus of the order of pice. The alcedo has a long, stout, thick, triangular bill, with a fleshy, plain, short, flat tongue. There are seven species of the alcedo.

1. The ifida, or common kingfisher, haunts the shores of Europe and Asia. It is not much larger than A swallow; its shape is clumsy; the bill disproportionably long; it is two inches from the base to the tip; the upper chap black, and the lower yellow. But the colours of this bird alone for its elegant form: the crown of the head and the coverts of the wings are of a deep blackish green, spotted with bright azure; the back and tail are of the most splendid azure; the whole under-side of the body is orange-coloured; a broad mark of the same, passes from the bill beyond the eyes; beyond that, is a large white spot; the tail is short, and consists of twelve feathers of a rich deep blue; the feet are of a reddish yellow, and the three joints of the outmost toe adhere to the middle toe, while the inner-toe adheres only by one.

From the diminutive size, the slender short legs, and the beautiful colours of this bird, no person would be led to suppose it one of the most rapacious little animals that skims the deep. Yet it is forever on the wing, and feeds on fish; which it takes in surprising quantities, when we consider its size and figure. It takes its prey after the manner of the osprey, balancing itself at a certain distance above the water for a considerable space, then darting into the deep, and seizing the fish with inevitable certainty. While it remains suspended in the air, in a bright day, the plumage exhibits a beautiful variety of the most dazzling and brilliant colours. This striking attitude did not escape the notice of the ancients; for Ibycus, as quoted by Athenaeus, styles these birds ἀναγκαῖοι ἀνεμοπτέρων, the halcyons with expanded wings. It makes its nest in holes in the sides of the cliffs, which it scoops to the depth of three feet; and lays from five to nine eggs, of a most beautiful semi-transparent white: the nest is very fetid, by reason of the remains of the fish brought to feed the young. The female begins to lay early in the season; and excludes her first brood about the beginning of April. The male, whose fidelity exceeds even that of the turtle, brings her large provisions of fish while she is thus employed; and she, contrary to most other birds, is found plump and fat at that season. The male, that used to twitter before this, now enters the nest as quietly and as privately as possible. The young ones are hatched at the expiration of 20 days; but are seen to differ as well in their size as in their beauty.

This species is the ἀναγκαῖος, or mute halcyon of Aristotle, which he describes with more precision than is usual with that great philosopher: after his description of the bird, follows that of its nest, than which the most inventive of the ancients have delivered nothing that appears at first sight more fabulous and extravagant. He relates, that it resembled those concretions that are formed by the sea-water; that it resembled the long-necked gourd; that it was hollow within; that the entrance was very narrow, so that, should it over-set, the water could not enter; that it resisted any violence from iron, but could be broken with a blow from the hand; and that it was composed of the bones of the ἀναγκαῖος, or sea-needle. The nest had medical virtues ascribed to it; and from the bird was called ἀναγκαῖον. In a fabulous age, every odd substance that was flung ashore received that name; a species of tubular coral, a sponge, a zoophyte, and a miscellaneous concrete, having by the ancients been dignified with that title from their imaginary origin*. Yet much of this seems to be founded on truth. The form of the nest is justly described; and the materials which Aristotle says it was composed of, are not entirely of his own invention. Whoever has seen the nest of the kingfisher, will observe it strewed with the bones and scales of fish; the fragments of the food of the owner and its young.—On the foundation laid by the philosopher, succeeding writers formed other tales extremely absurd; and the poets, indulging the powers of imagination, dressed the story in all the robes of romance. This nest was a floating one:

Incubat halcyone pendentibus æquore nidis. OVID. Met. lib. xi.

It was therefore necessary to place it in a tranquil sea, and to supply the bird with charms to allay the fury of a turbulent element during the time of its incubation; for it had, at that season, power over the seas and the winds.

Νῦν ἀναγκαῖος ἐγκαίνιον τῷ ξυλίῳ, τῷ τῇ Ἀλκυόνι, Τοῦ τελέσαι, τὸν τῆς ὕδατος, ἢ ἐξαύλιον πολὺς ἄνεμος Ἀλκυόνιον, Ἀλκυόνιον ἀνεμοπτέρων τοῦ μεταφέρει. Οἰκοδομεῖ εὐθεῖα. THEOCRIT. Idyl. vii. l. 57.

May Halcyone smooth the waves, and calm the fear, And the rough south-east turn into a breeze; Halcyone, of all the birds that haunt the main, Most lov'd and honoured by the Nerid train. FAXEUS.

These birds were equally favourites with Thetis as with the Nerids;

Dilecte Thetidis Haleiones. VIRG. Georg. i. 389.

as if to their influence these deities owed a repose in the midst of the storms of winter, and by their means were secured from those winds that disturb their submarine retreats, and agitated even the plants at the bottom of the ocean.

Such are the accounts given by the Roman and Sicilian poets. Aristotle and Pliny tells us, that this bird is most common in the seas of Sicily: that it sat only a few days, and those in the depth of winter; and during that period the mariner might fail in full security; for which reason they were styled Halcyon days.

Perque dies placidos hiberno tempore septem. Incubat Halcyone pendentibus æquore nidis: Tum via tuae maris: ventos cuidedit, et accepit Æolus egeiflu. OVID. Met. lib. XL.

Alcyone, comprised, Seven days sits brooding on her watery nest, A wintry queen; her fire at length is kind, Calms every storm, and hushes every wind. DRYDEN.

In after-times, these words expressed any season of prosperity: there were the Halcyon days of the poets; the brief tranquillity, the septem placidi dies, of human life.

The poets also made it a bird of song. Virgil seems to place it in the same rank with the linnet;

Littorique Halcyonem resonant, et Acantisbida dumit. GEORG. III. 338.

And Silius Italicus celebrates its music, and its floating nest:

Cum sonat Halcyone canto, nidoque natantes Immota gestat fonsit flaciibus unda. LIB. XIV. 215.

But these writers seem to have transferred to our species, the harmony that belongs to the vocal alcedo*, one of the loil birds of the ancients.

As the ancients have had their fables concerning this bird, so have the modern vulgar. It is an opinion generally received among them, that the flesh of the kingfisher will not corrupt, and that it will even banish This has no better foundation than that which is said of its always pointing, when hung up dead, with its breast to the north. The only truth which can be affirmed of this bird when killed is, that its flesh is utterly unfit to be eaten; while its beautiful plumage preserves its lustre longer than that of any other bird we know.

The other species are, 2. The erathaca, with a short tail, a blue back, a yellow bill, a purple head and rump, and the throat and opposite part of the neck white. It is a native of Bengal. 3. The alcyon with a short black tail, white belly, and ferruginous breast. It is a native of America. Its cry, its solitary abode about rivers, and its manner of feeding, are much the same as of those in Britain. It preys not only on fish, but likewise on lizards. 4. The todus, with a short green tail, a blood-coloured throat, and a white belly. It is a native of America; and is the green sparrow, or green hummingbird, of Edwards. 5. The syrmensis, with a short green tail, ferruginous wings, and a green back. It is a native of Africa, and Asia. 6. The rudis, with a brown short tail variegated with white. It is a native of Persia and Egypt. 7. The dea, with two very long feathers in the tail, a blackish blue body, and greenish wings. It is a native of Surinam. All these likewise dive in the water, and catch fish with their long beaks.