noun
definition
Any of various birds of the suborder Alcedines (or the family Alcedinidae sensu lato), having a large head, short tail and brilliant colouration; they feed mostly on fish.
Examples of kingfishers in a Sentence
Another chief feature is the extraordinary development of the cassowaries, the richness and specialization of the kingfishers, parrots, pigeons, honeysuckers and some remarkable flycatchers.
The birds of paradise, the racquet-tailed kingfishers, Tanysiptera, the largest and smallest of parrots, Calyptorhynchus and Nasiterna, and the great crowned pigeons, Goura, are very characteristic; and so are the various Megapodes.
Cuckoos are abundant, some of them of lovely plumage, also rollers, kingfishers and hornbills.
The herons, for instance, are much more Constrictipedes " than are the larks or the kingfishers, and, so far from the majority of " Inconstrictipedes " being polygamous, there is scarcely any evidence of polygamy obtaining as a habit among birds in a state of nature except in certain of the Gallinae and a very few others.
Pheasants, ducks, geese and snipe are abundant, and Dr C. Collingwood in his Naturalist's Rambles in the China Seas mentions .Ardea prasinosceles and other species of herons, several species of fly-catchers, kingfishers, shrikes and larks, the black drongo, the Cotyle sinensis and the Prinia sonitans.
The other birds include parrots, toucans, gaudily coloured cuckoos, lories, swallows, shrikes, sun-birds, kingfishers, weavers, finches, wild pigeons and crows.
The commonest birds are pigeons (the large notou and other varieties), doves, parrots, kingfishers and ducks.
Kingfishers of various kinds and herons are sought for their plumage.
There are 21 species of kingfishers, 15 being peculiar.
There are deer (at least five species), boars, bears, antelopes, beavers, otters, badgers, tiger-cats, marten, an inferior sable, striped squirrels, &c. Among birds there are black eagles, peregrines (largely used in hawking), and, specially protected by law, turkey bustards, three varieties of pheasants, swans, geese, common and spectacled teal, mallards, mandarin ducks white and pink ibis, cranes, storks, egrets, herons, curlews, pigeons, doves, nightjars, common and blue magpies, rooks, crows, orioles, halcyon and blue kingfishers, jays, nut-hatches, redstarts, snipe, grey shrikes, hawks, kites, &c. But, pending further observations, it is not possible to say which of the smaller birds actually breed in Korea and which only make it a halting-place in their annual migrations.
Birds include the ostrich, great kori bustard, the eagle, vulture, hawk and crane, francolin, golden cuckoo, bootie, scarlet and yellow finches, kingfishers, parrots (in the eastern regions), pelicans and flamingoes.
Several kinds of swifts and nightjars are found, and gorgeously-coloured trogons, bee-eaters, rollers, and beautiful kingfishers and barbets are common.
Geese, ducks and other water fowl frequent the lakes and bays in the migratory season, and eagles, gulls, hawks, kingfishers, owls, plover, woodcock, " partridge " (ruffed grouse), robins, orioles, bobolinks, blue birds, swallows, sparrows, and many other insectivorous birds are common.
His wife found the body, and the gods, out of compassion, changed both her and her husband into kingfishers.
There is a large variety of perching birds, including several species of brilliant plumage - sun-birds, kingfishers, rollers and flycatchers, &c.; kites, hawks and owls are numerous, and the lakes and marshes abound with water-fowl and herons, ibises, &c.
Jacana, black crake and various kingfishers are regularly seen and it is also a good spot for violet touraco.
There are rare wetland species and the reserve is good for birds including spotted flycatcher, kingfishers and reed bunting.
We winded at Shackerstone and saw several kingfishers on the way back, or one being ubiquitous.
The motmots form the sub-family Momotinae, which with the Todinae (see ToDY) form the family Momotidae of Coraciiform birds, the nearest allies being rollers (q.v.) and kingfishers (q.v.).
While all have a general resemblance in the serrated edges of the bill and many other characters, Momotus has the normal number of twelve rectrices, while the rest have only ten, which in Hylomanes have the ordinary configuration, but in adult examples of all the others the shaft of the median pair is devoid of barbs for the space of about an inch a little above the extremity, so as to produce a spatulate appearance, such as is afforded by certain humming-birds known as "racquet-tails" (see HUMMING-BIRD), kingfishers of the genus Tanysiptera (see KINGFISHER), and parrots of the group Prioniturus.
No more losses to snapping turtles, huge bullfrogs and water snakes, kingfishers and herons.
Besides these, three or perhaps four groups, though widely distributed throughout the world, arrive in the Australian region at their culmination, presenting an abundance of most varied forms. These are the weaver-birds (Ploceidae), and the moreporks (Podargidae), but especially the kingfishers (Alcedinidae) and the pigeons (Columbidae), the species belonging to the two last obtaining in this region a degree of prominence and beauty which is elsewhere unequalled.
As a whole, Australia is rich in parrots, of which it has several very peculiar forms, but Picarians in old-fashioned parlance, of all sorts - certain kingfishers excepted - are few in number, and the pigeons are also comparatively scarce, no doubt because of the many arboreal predaceous marsupials.
Of birds some 30 kinds are known, an owl being the only bird of prey; parrots, pigeons, kingfishers, honey-suckers, rails, ducks, and other water birds are numerous.