further to show the comparatively functionless character of these members, in two of the genera, Alcyone and Ceyx, the second digit is aborted, and the birds have but three toes. In most forms the bill does not differ much from that of the common Alcedo ispida, but in Syma its edges are serrated, while in Carcineutes, Dacelo and Melidora the maxilla is prolonged, becoming in the last a very pronounced hook. Generally the wings are short and rounded, and the tail is in many forms inconspicuous; but in Tanysiptera, one of the most beautiful groups, the middle pair of feathers is greatly elongated and spatulate, while this genus possesses only ten rectrices, all the rest having twelve. Sundevall relies on a character not noticed by Sharpe, and makes his principal divisions depend on the size of the scapulars, which in one form a mantle, and in the other are so small as not to cover the back. The Alcedinidae are a cosmopolitan family, but only one genus, Ceryle, is found in America, and that extends as well over a great part of the Old World, though not into the Australian region, which affords by far the greater number both of genera and species, having no fewer than ten of the former and fifty-nine of the latter peculiar to it.[1]
In habits kingfishers display considerable diversity, though all, it would seem, have it in common to sit at times motionless on the watch for their prey, and on its appearance to dart upon it, seize it as they fly or dive, and return to a perch where it may be conveniently swallowed. But some species, and especially that which is the type of the family, are not always content to await at rest their victim’s showing itself. They will hover like a hawk over the waters that conceal it, and, in the manner already described, precipitate themselves upon it. This is particularly the way with those that are fishers in fact as well as in name; but no inconsiderable number live almost entirely in forests, feeding on insects, while reptiles furnish the chief sustenance of others. The last is characteristic of at least one Australian form, which manages to thrive in the driest districts of that country, where not a drop of water is to be found for miles, and the air is at times heated to a degree that is insupportable by most animals. The belted kingfisher of North America, Ceryle alcyon, is a characteristic bird of that country, though its habits greatly resemble those of the European species; and the so-called “laughing jackass” of New South Wales and South Australia, Dacelo gigas—with its kindred forms, D. leachi, D. cervina and D. occidentalis, from other parts of the country—deserve special mention. Attention must also be called to the speculations of Dr Bowdler Sharpe (op. cit., pp. xliv.–xlvii.) on the genetic affinity of the various forms of Alcedinidae, and it is to be regretted that hitherto no light has been shed by palaeontologists on this interesting subject, for the only fossil referred to the neighbourhood of the family is the Halcyornis toliapicus of Sir R. Owen (Br. Foss. Mamm. and Birds, p. 554) from the Eocene of Sheppey—the very specimen said to have been previously placed by König (Icon. foss. sectiles, fig. 153) in the genus Larus. (A. N.)
KINGHORN, a royal and police burgh of Fifeshire, Scotland.
Pop. (1901), 1550. It is situated on the Firth of Forth, 214 m.
E. by N. of Burntisland, on the North British railway. The
public buildings include a library and town-hall. It enjoys
some repute as a summer resort. The leading industries are
ship-building, bleaching and the making of flax and glue. At
the time of his visit Daniel Defoe found thread-making in vogue,
which employed the women while the men were at sea. Alexander
III. created Kinghorn a burgh, but his connexion with the
town proved fatal to him. As he was riding from Inverkeithing
on the 12th of March 1286 he was thrown by his horse and fell
over the cliffs, since called King’s Wud End, a little to the west
of the burgh, and killed. A monument was erected in 1887 to
mark the supposed scene of the accident. The Witch Hill
used to be the place of execution of those poor wretches. Kinghorn
belongs to the Kirkcaldy district group of parliamentary
burghs. At Pettycur, 1 m. to the south, is a good harbour for
its size, and at Kinghorn Ness a battery has been established
in connexion with the fortifications on Inchkeith. The hill
above the battery was purchased by government in 1903 and
is used as a point of observation. About 1 m. to the north
of Kinghorn is the estate of Grange, which belonged to Sir
William Kirkcaldy. Inchkeith, an island in the fairway of
the Firth of Forth, 212 m. S. by E. of Kinghorn and 312 m. N. by
E. of Leith, belongs to the parish of Kinghorn. It has a north-westerly
and south-easterly trend, and is nearly 1 m. long and
14 m. wide. It is a barren rock, on the summit of which stands a
lighthouse visible at night for 21 m. In 1881 forts connected by
a military road were erected on the northern, western and
southern headlands.
KINGLAKE, ALEXANDER WILLIAM (1809–1891), English
historian and traveller, was born at Taunton on the 5th of
August 1809. His father, a successful solicitor, intended his
son for a legal career. Kinglake went to Eton and Trinity
College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1828, being a contemporary
and friend of Tennyson and Thackeray. After leaving
Cambridge he joined Lincoln’s Inn, and was called to the bar in
1837. While still a student he travelled, in 1835, throughout
the East, and the impression made upon him by his experiences
was so powerful that he was seized with a desire to record them
in literature. Eothen, a sensitive and witty record of impressions
keenly felt and remembered, was published in 1844, and
enjoyed considerable reputation. In 1854 he went to the Crimea,
and was present at the battle of the Alma. During the campaign
he made the acquaintance of Lord Raglan, who was so much
attracted by his talents that he suggested to Kinglake the plan
for an elaborate History of the Crimean War, and placed his
private papers at the writer’s disposal. For the rest of his life
Kinglake was engaged upon the task of completing this monumental
history. Thirty-two years elapsed between its commencement
and the publication of the last volume, and eight volumes
in all appeared at intervals between 1863 and 1887. Kinglake
lived principally in London, and sat in parliament for Bridgwater
from 1857 until the disfranchisement of the borough in
1868. He died on the 2nd of January 1891. Kinglake’s life-work,
The History of the Crimean War, is in scheme and execution
too minute and conscientious to be altogether in proportion, but
it is a wonderful example of painstaking and talented industry.
It is not without errors of partisanship, but it shows remarkable
skill in the moulding of vast masses of despatches and technical
details into an absorbingly interesting narrative; it is illumined
by natural descriptions and character-sketches of great fidelity
and acumen; and, despite its length, it remains one of the most
picturesque, most vivid and most actual pieces of historical
narrative in the English language.
KINGLET, a name applied in many books to the bird called
by Linnaeus Motacilla regulus, and by most modern ornithologists
Regulus cristatus, the golden-crested or golden-crowned
wren of ordinary persons. This species is the type of a small
group which has been generally placed among the Sylviidae
or true warblers, but by certain systematists it is referred to
the titmouse family, Paridae. That the kinglets possess many
of the habits and actions of the latter is undeniable, but on
the other hand they are not known to differ in any important
points of organization or appearance from the former—the chief
distinction being that the nostril is covered by a single bristly
feather directed forwards. The golden-crested wren is the
smallest of British birds, its whole length being about 312 in.,
and its wing measuring only 2 in. from the carpal joint.
Generally of an olive-green colour, the top of its head is bright
yellow, deepening into orange, and bounded on either side by a
black line, while the wing coverts are dull black, and some of
them tipped with white, forming a somewhat conspicuous bar.
The cock has a pleasant but weak song. The nest is a beautiful
object, thickly felted of the softest moss, wool, and spiders’ webs,
lined with feathers, and usually built under and near the
end of the branch of a yew, fir or cedar, supported by the interweaving
of two or three laterally diverging and pendent twigs,
and sheltered by the rest. The eggs are from six to ten in number,
of a dull white sometimes finely freckled with reddish-brown.
The species is particularly social, living for the most part of the
- ↑ Cf. Wallace, Geog. Distr. Animals, ii. 315.
