i6o 



VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 



Fie 



ily, Pronitidse or Saw-bill Family, and Colopteridae or 

 Flycatcher Family. 



ALCEDINID^:, OR KINGFISHER FAMILY. This Family 

 comprises birds with a large head, a long, straight, sub- 

 pyramidal bill, very small tongue, short wings, small legs, 

 very short tarsi, and the outer and middle toes united half 

 their length. 



The Genus Ceryle comprises two species. 



The Belted King- 

 fisher, Ceryle alcyon, 

 Boie, of the entire con- 

 tinent of North Amer- 

 ica, is about thirteen 

 inches long, the wing 

 six inches, the head 

 with a long crest ; the 

 color above, blue ; be- 

 neath, and a spot ante- 

 rior to the eye, white ; 

 a band across the 

 breast, and the sides 

 of the body, like the 

 back ; the primaries 

 white on their basal 



Belted Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon, Boie. j^f- and the ^ with 



transverse bands and spots of white. Ponds and slow 

 streams are its favorite resorts, near which it sits on a 

 branch or decayed limb, and watches for fish, which con- 

 stitutes its food. At the proper moment it plunges head- 

 long into the water, seizes the fish, flies to the nearest 

 tree, and swallows its victim in a moment, and is imme- 

 diately on the watch for another. Its notes are harsh. 

 The nest is made in a horizontal hole excavated in a high 

 bank of a stream, by the mutual labor of the male and 

 female, to the depth of three to six feet ; eggs six, pure 

 white. 



