70 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Aug. -Sept 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Editor, The Ottawa Naturalist: 



It is with pleasure that I am able to report that for the 

 fourth year in succession " Tyr annus verticalis" has migrated 

 hither. A pair are now (May 26) looking over last year's nest 

 with a view to re-occupation. Probably they are the original 

 pair. In any case, they are far more welcome than their cousins, 

 T tyrannus. 



H. M. Speechly, Pilot Mound, Man. 



NEST OF BELTED KINGFISHER. 



A nest of this species with the eggs and parent bird has 

 been acquired by the Canadian Fisheries Museum. The nest 

 is from Meach Lake, Gatineau District, P.Q., and was found by 

 Mr. Alex. C. Finlayson, Inspector of Fish Hatcheries, and his 

 son, on 24th May. It was situated in a sand-pit about 10 feet 

 from the ground and about 3 feet from the top of the pit. An 

 excavated tunnel about 8 feet in length led from the entrance to 

 the nest the diameter of the entrance being about 2h inches, 

 and the extremity of the tunnel, where the nest was, was dome- 

 shaped, and about 8 inches across and some 6 inches high. The 

 nest was placed on the sand of the pit, and was merely composed 

 of clean fish-bones and scales, upon which was the full com- 

 plement of eggs 7 in number, fresh, semi-spherical, and pure 

 white, only that their contents before being blown gave them a 

 pinkish hue. The parent bird, which was found in the burrow, 

 is the male, which lacks the chestnut band across the breast 

 characteristic of the female. The nest, eggs and bird, when 

 together exhibited in the museum, will form a graceful object. 



Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle ale yon). 'This is the familiar 

 bird whose loud, coarse, rattling notes are heard along our 

 streams. It may be seen perched upon the lower branches of a 

 tree overhanging the water or on the top of a dead stump ; these 

 places furnish a favorite outlook, from which it plunges beneath 

 the water to secure its prey, which is chiefly fish. It is a curious 

 fact that Mr. W. E. D. Scott frequently met with this bird in the 

 desert region of Southern Arizona, far from water, feeding on 

 the large insects and lizards." (Oliver Daire, in "Nests and Eggs 

 of North American Birds.") 



Andrew Halkett. 



