The Birds' CalcMid.ir 



Like ilic niL;ht heron, the t;recn heron win- 

 ters in the south, and in summer is widely 

 spread over the United States and beyond, Hv- 

 ing in seckided places near the water. 



Another bird hovering about the water, which 

 the casual observer would suppose could be 

 reckoned among the water-fowl with much the 

 same propriety as the herons (a classification 

 which I suppose is forbidden by their interior 

 anatomy, or perhaps by the length of the hind 

 toe) is the belted kingfisher. This bird is fully 

 a foot long, blue above, white beneath, with a 

 bluish band across the breast. It is a familiar 

 sight throughout the whole of North America 

 in summer, frequenting rivers, lakes, and ponds, 

 from which it obtains its food, which is chief- 

 ly small fish, for the capture of which it will 

 sometimes plunge fully under water. Ungain- 

 ly in ai^pearance when ]ierching, it retrieves 

 its reputation by a graceful and rapid manner 

 of flight. 



The confused character of the present system 

 of grouping birds is nowhere exhibited more 

 strikingly than in the relegation of kingfish- 

 ers, along with humming-birds, night hawks, 

 cuckoos, woodpeckers, and chimney swallows, 

 to an Order called Picariae, ''established," as 



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