. Reptiles and birds : a popular account of their various orders : with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting . Birds; Reptiles. KINa-PISHEES. 485 a tree, it swallows it head, foremost. When fish is scarce it feeds also upon aquatic insects, which it seizes on the wing. Its aerial movements are rapid and direct, but weakly main- tained, being performed by a series of quick, jerking beats of the wings, generally close to the surface : the action of the wings is so rapid as to be scarcely perceptible. The short tarsi render the King-fisher a bad walker. The King-fisher
. Reptiles and birds : a popular account of their various orders : with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting . Birds; Reptiles. KINa-PISHEES. 485 a tree, it swallows it head, foremost. When fish is scarce it feeds also upon aquatic insects, which it seizes on the wing. Its aerial movements are rapid and direct, but weakly main- tained, being performed by a series of quick, jerking beats of the wings, generally close to the surface : the action of the wings is so rapid as to be scarcely perceptible. The short tarsi render the King-fisher a bad walker. The King-fisher is a solitary bird, living generally in secluded. Fig. 201.—King-fishers {Alcedo ispida,'Lian.). places, and is rarely seen even with birds of its own species, except in the pairing season. Like the Todies, thej 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 disfigured by the fragments of their repast. 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. Their flesh is very disagreeable. The King-fisher is the Halcyon of the ancients, who attributed to it after death the power of indicating the winds. The seven days before and the seven days after the winter solstice were the Halcyon days, during which the bird was supposed to. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Figuier, Louis, 1819-1894; Gillmore, Parker. New York : D. Appleton
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectrep
