NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 107 



any character by which the eggs of the Roller may be 

 distinguished from those of several allied species. Care- 

 ful identification is required. 



Family ALCEDINID.E. Genus Ceryle. 



BELTED KINGFISHER. 



Ceryle alcyon (^Linnceus). 

 (British : Very rare abnormal autumn migrant.) 



Partially Double Brooded. Laying season, April, May, and 



June. 



Breeding area : Nearctic region. The Belted 

 Kingfisher breeds throughout the North American con- 

 tinent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, north to the 

 Arctic Ocean, and south to Central America. 



Breeding habits : The favourite haunts of the 

 Belted Kingfisher are streams, lakes, and ponds whose 

 banks are sufiftciently wooded or clothed with vegetation 

 to afford cover and concealment, and steep enough to 

 furnish a requisite breeding place. It is unsociable and 

 lives a solitary life, each pair having particular beats to 

 which they closely keep. There can be little doubt that 

 this Kingfisher pairs for life, and resorts to a chosen 

 nesting place year after year. Like the Common King- 

 fisher of our English streams, it rears its young in a hole 

 in a bank. This hole is excavated by the birds them- 

 selves, each working in turn, and often so rapidly that it 

 is completed in a single night. The burrow is usually 

 from two to four feet in depth, but instances have been 

 known where it has extended as much as fifteen feet 

 into the bank. As a rule it is pretty straight, slightly 



