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 AMERICAN BIRD-VISITORS TO IRELAND AT HOME. 



BY W. E. PRAKGE^R, OF KEOKUK, IOWA. 



V. The BeIvTEd Kingfisher (^Ccryle alcyon). 



The only instances of this bird's occurrence on the eastern 

 shores of the Atlantic are the two well-authenticated Irish 

 records. One specimen was shot in Co. Meath, on the 26th 

 October, 1844, and another in Co. Wicklow in November of 

 the same year. The skins are still preserved, one in Trinity 

 College, and the other in the Science and Art Museum, Dublin. 



It is remarkable that in a continent as well supplied with 

 rivers and lakes as temperate N. America, there should be 

 only one kind of Kingfisher. But the western world, as a 

 whole, is poor in Kingfishers, only having six or eight species, 

 all belonging to a single genus, or only about five per cent, of 

 the known species. It is probable that Kingfishers are a very 

 recent introduction, and in those portions of the continent 

 where the water is frozen in winter, and for some distance 

 south of that line, the extensive migration has encouraged 

 interbreeding, so that in all the vast area this includes — a ter- 

 ritory probably better supplied with fresh water than any 

 other of similar area on the globe — only one species of King- 

 fisher exists to-day. All other American species are inhabi- 

 tants of the tropical or sub-tropical regions of the continent, 

 where, being residents, the development of a number of local 

 races and species has taken place. 



But what our country may lack in variety of species, it 

 makes up in number of individuals. All through the con- 

 tinent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Arctic 

 Ocean to Panama and the West Indies, the Belted Kingfisher 

 is a common bird. It is resident wherever it can be, but is 

 driven out of the northern portions of its range by the freez- 

 ing of the waters; yet if it can only find open water, it will 

 stay all the winter, no matter how cold the weather may 

 become, and records of its remaining near warm springs or 

 salt water through intensely cold winters are not uncommon. 

 It moves north early, following the melting of the ice, and 

 before our ears have grown accustomed to the unwonted 

 sounds of waves and running waters, the loud laugh of the 

 Kingfisher comes as their natural accompaniment. 



