^ f t e d with facilities for locomotion and for obtaining food ; and th eir nearest affinities lie in
th e direction o f th e Kingflshers.”
Moreover Professor Huxley, in his celebrated paper on th e Classification o f B irds (P. Z. S.
7, p. 415), also places the Hornbills in the same group as the Kingfishers; and thus
frem two opposite points o f observation th eir affinity is allowed. I th in k th a t, keeping
e pecuhai habits o f each famUy in view, we may agree entirely with Mr. Wallace in con-
sidermg the B u c e ro tiim to be th e n earest relations o f the Alcedmida- now existing. I t is
probable th a t they were once still more closely connected, and th a t some of the Ihiks have
become ex tin c t; bu t, be th a t as it may, I tak e th e genera Dacelo and Melidora (which, as
WÜ1 be seen by th e H a te o f G eneric Characters, is cnly an exaggerated form o i Dacelo) to be
th e extreme lim it o f th e Alcedmme type now known, and th a t th e peculiarities o f these
genera point th em out as more nearly allied to th e Hornbills th an to any other living birds.
W e may suppose also th a t they are th e most ancient form o f Kingfisher e x tan t; for i t is
certain th a t Alcedo, which is one o f th e genera furthest removed in outwai-d appearance
from Mebdora, is the most specialized type o f th e family Alcedinidce, and therefore belongs
to a more recen t development. L e t any one carefully examine th e various forms o f Kiuv-
fishers in th e present ‘ M onograph,’ beginning with Melidora, and h e cannot b u t be struck
with th e p eculia r bill exhibited by th a t b i r d - s to u t , broad, hooked, and formed for the
c apture o f insects, lizai-ds, o r snakes. Then le t him suddenly tu rn to the beginning o f the
work and examine Alcedo ispida. This type o f Kingfisher is exactly the opposite to what
he before b e h e ld : th e stout depressed beak, th e hooked maxilla, and the long taU are all
g o n e; and instead th ere is a bh-d with a long, narrow, pointed bill, and a short stumpy tail,
b o th characters admirably adapted for the manner in which it gains its food—the pointed
b ill formed for cleaving th e water, and th e short tail to act as a rudder to guide th e fisher
in its downward plunge. Tu rn in g once more to Melidora we seek the links which may
stiU be le ft us on the globe whereby to connect forms apparently so dWereut, and at
once we seize upon C i t tm as the nearest approach to this extreme form; for here is also
seen th e grooved bill, alth o u g h the maxillary hook is absent. I th in k any one exan,inir,g
specimens o f th e genera Melidora and C i t tm will readily admit th a t they are closely allied;
and again we notice th a t th e two last-named genera, along with Dacelo and Carcineutm,
possess one stru ctu ral character in common; and th a t is, a certain tendency to a small
n otch on th e commissure nea r the base o f the maxilla. This peculiarity is only slightly
visible in Daoelo, more in Melidora and a t tu r a , and most in Carcineutes, forming, in this
genus, a chara cter o f primary importance. This fact, small as it is, seiwes to connect these
four genera to g e th e r; b u t while Cittura m i M elidora are certainly closely allied, and in the
same w ay Dacelo and Carcineutes, the la tte r have very little else in common with the former,
and th o u g h apparently modelled on the same type, th e links are wanting for closer connexion.
I t will be remembered th a t a t the outset o f this Introduction I stated th a t the
Kingfishers might be natu rally divided into three subfamilies, Piscivorous, Omnivorous, and
Eeptilivorous Kingfishers, I t is with th e th ird or last named o f these groups th a t we are
now dealing; and besides the four genera I have mentioned, I th in k th a t th re e other genera
GOSCLUDmG BEMARK3. xlv
must be included. The first o f these is Tanysiptera, which embraces th e most elegant and
beautiful o f all the known Kingfishers. The habits are th u s described to me in a letter
from my kin d friend Mr. Wallace :—
“ These bil'ds are all inhabitants o f dense thickets or forests where there is soil free from
dense vegetation, from which they can pick up insects, small mollusks, or Crustacea. They
rest on branches th ree to five feet from the ground, and d a rt down on th e ir prey, often with
such force as to stick th eir b ill into the ground, as shown by its being often covered with
mud. They are said to nest in deserted white-ants’ nests or in caves or holes in banlrs. I n
Arn T. hydrocharis was often b rought me by th e native boys alive. They caught them
before dawn, roosting under ledges o f the coralline rocks which border th e forest water-
streams in those islands.”
Now it is evident th at among the Alcedinine genera now existing there is only one which
can be compared with Tanysiptera; and th a t is CaHdonax, which appears to me to be a
du-ect link between the foregomg genus aud certain species o f Halcyon, Beyond this
indication o f affinity we have positively no d h e c t characters by which to guide us as to
the correct position o f the genus Tanysiptera; for it differs from all other Kingfishers
in having only ten tail-feathers, and having the middle pair o f these feathers elongated
and ornamented with a more or less distinct spatula or racket. I am therefore forced to
p u t Tanysiptera a little ap art from the direct line o f affinity in th e chain o f genera now
before us at the present d a y ; b u t I consider th a t it has direct connexion with Caridonax,
and, of the other forms, perhaps inclines towards Cittura, the intermediate links being now
missing. I have already stated th a t the genus Caridonax (which I would also include
among tbe Eeptilivorous Kingfishers) forms the direct link between Tanysiptera and
Halcyon, the actual species most nearly approaching i t being H a lc ym leucopygia from the
Solomon Islands. The only remaining genus of Eeptilivorous Kingfishers is Monachalcyon;
and this, as far as I can see, shows no direct affinity to any existing genus, and the only
place I can assign to it is in the vicinity of Tanysiptera, to an allied form o f which it may
a t one time possibly have been connected. Only one species o f th e genus is k n ow n ; and
the outward facies o f the ad u lt inclines somewhat to certain species of Halcyon; b u t the
young bird [vide the P la te of th e species) indicates an affinity to Tanysiptera, near which
genus I have accordingly placed it. I t is veiy probably derived from the same parent
stock and, being isolated in the island o f Celebes, has been modified into its present form.
The second subfamily which I first proposed, was to contain those Kingfishers whose food
was m ix e d ; and the large genus Halcyon is the type o f this subfamily. Todirhamphus I
consider to he an offspring o f Halcycm, whose place it supplies in the Pacific Isla n d s : and
here probably isolation has assisted to favour th e tendency to v ariatio n ; for while external
resemblances to the plumage o f Halcyon still exist, the form of beak is more depressed,
showing, in my opinion, th a t circumstances had induced a more strictly insectivorous diet,
and as the necessity for tho long th in beak of the fisher diminished, th a t organ became
more and more modified as the primary object o f its employment vanished, till a t last it
became depressed and flat as the bird became gradually more o feed e r on ;
fV ',-