ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLERS AND THEIR ALLIES
THE KINGFISHERS
The Crested Kingfishers
(Corylhomis) are, as the name implies, conspicuously crested, bright-plumaged birds not exceeding five inches in length; of the three species, C. cristatus of Madagascar is shown in the figure (page 500); their habits are similar to those of the common species just described, as are the habits of the three-toed Australian Kingfishers (Alcyone).
This brings us to the confines of the other subfamily (Dacelonince), which, while not very sharply differentiated from the first, is nevertheless distinguished by having the bill more or less depressed or flattened or sometimes even grooved, while the habits are more insectivorous or rcptihvorous, and hence the members are not so dependent upon the presence of water.
They do not altogether disdain an occasional fish, but for the most part they haunt the forests and brush-and jungle-covered country, often a long way from water; their nesting habits, as already pointed out, are also different.
This subfamily comprises the great majority of the members of the family, some fifteen genera and not less than one hundred and fifty species falling within its limits, and while there is a group of four large genera in which the tail is as short as in any of the fish-eating forms, in certain of them this member is extremely long and variously ornamented, and in plumage, too, they are among the most brilliant of birds, principally a beautiful cobalt-blue combined with red and black and yellow in tasteful contrast.
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