PIED KINGFISHER.
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LARGER IMAGE
Species of the genus Alcedo are 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 genus Alcyone, 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 of Alcedo 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 of Alcedo 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 genus Ceryle, 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 of Ceyx do 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 genus Halcyon is 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 the Tanysipteræ,[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 of Tanysiptera is 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 pretty Tanysiptera is 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 by whee-whe-whee and wheet-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 of Quatawur, 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.
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 appreciated by 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.
THE FOURTH FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.
THE HORNBILLS (Bucerotidæ).
These birds are found in Africa, India, and throughout the Malayan region and Molucca Islands, as far as New Guinea. They are birds of rather ungainly appearance, nearly every species having a casque, or helmet, which is developed in every variety of shape, and in some of them reaches an extraordinary size. The flat soles which were alluded to in the Kingfishers are here developed in a greater degree, and the toes are united together in exactly the same way. The flight, however, of the Hornbills is very different from that of the Kingfishers, being heavy and performed with an abundance of noise: so much so that some explorers in South-eastern New Guinea have been led to speak of a bird whose wings, when flying, produced a noise “resembling a locomotive,” but which was doubtless made by the large Hornbill (Buceros[273] ruficollis), which frequents that part of the world. They are generally found on very lofty trees and at a great height, which makes them difficult to shoot; and Governor Ussher says that in ascending the lonely forest-clad rivers of North-western Borneo the only sign of life is often a solitary Hornbill flying across at a great height in the air. Wallace states that the Rhinoceros Hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), a native of the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo, finds the exertion of flying so great that it is compelled to rest at intervals of about a mile; and the same author says that he heard the Great Hornbill (Dichoceros bicornis) more than a mile off, so that the amazement caused by one of these large birds to the travellers in New Guinea, as mentioned above, does not seem so very inexplicable. The voice of the last-named species is said to be very harsh and grating, and the noise it makes is compared by Wallace to something between the bray of a Jackass and the shriek of a locomotive, and is not to be surpassed, probably, in power by any sound that an animal is capable of making. Tickell says that its roar re-echoes through the hills to such a degree that it is difficult to assign the noise to a bird; and Wallace observes that this is kept up so continuously as to be absolutely unbearable. The flight is heavy, and performed by repeated flappings of its huge wings. It usually flies in a straight line, and sails only when about to alight upon some tree.[274]
