594 



HALCYONS. 



These are shy, solitary, and abstemious birds, feeding on insects, 

 and diminutive aquatic animals, but principally on small fish, for which 

 they assiduously watch while perched on some projecting stake or 

 bough impending over the water ; these they dexterously catch and 

 swallow whole, at length casting up the scales, bones, and indigesti- 

 ble parts in the form of pellets. They fly for short distances with 

 considerable celerity, skimming directly over the surface of the land 

 or water. — Species are spread over the whole globe, but they abound 

 most in warm climates. In the United States, as in Europe, there 

 is but a solitary peculiar race in each country. 



Boicen. 



BELTED KING-FISHER. 



{Alcedo Alcyon, L. Wilson, iii. p. 59. pi. 23. fig. 1. Axjd. pi. 77. 

 Orn. Biog. i. p. 394. Phil. Museum, No. 2145 ) 



Sp. Charact. — Crested ; bluish slate-color ; breast with a bluish 

 band ; a spot on either side of the eyes, with a large collar round 

 the neck, as well as the vent, white. — Female, with the sides, and 

 an additional belt on the breast, ferruginous. 



