OF NEW ENGLAND. 305 



daringly pugnacious, yet tliey are known to congregate .occa- 

 sionally in flocks, chiefly during the migrations. Though they 

 are apparently'' very hardy, yet they have never, I believe, been 

 successfully kept in confinement for a longer period than a few 

 months. The principal obstacles in rearing them are the in- 

 juries which they receive, if allowed to fly about a room, their 

 suffering from cold, and the difficulty of providing proper food, 

 since any prepared syrup apparently does not satisfy them ex- 

 cept when young. 



(c?). Their oulj^ note is a chirp, which immediately suggests 

 the voice of an insect. 



No birds are more generally beloved and admired than our 

 Hummingbirds, and America may well boast of a treasure 

 which no other country possesses. 



§ 23. Alcedinidse. Kingfishers. (See § 22.) 



I. CERYLE 



(A) ALCYON. Belted Kingfisher. Kingfisher. 



(A resident of New England in summer, and occasionally 

 in winter.) 



(a). About 121 inches long. Upper parts, sides, and a 

 breast-band, ashy-blue. Head-feathers darker, forming a loose 

 crest, and giving a rough outline to the hind-head. Wings and 

 tail also partly darker, and white-spotted. Broad collar (in- 

 terrupted behind), lower breast, etc., white. The latter in 2 

 with a band (often imperfect) of a ,chestnut-color, which ex- 

 tends along the sides, and sometimes mixes with the band 

 above.'' 



(h). From the abundant evidence recently offered on the 

 subject of the nest, and from my own limited experience, it 

 may be gathered that it varies in length, though sometimes 

 nine feet long, that it may be either straight or have a bend, 

 and that it is rarely lined at the end, except with fish-bones, 

 as is sometimes the case. That the Kingfishers always make 



'"Several specimens in the Smitiisonian collection marked female (perhapa 

 erroneously) show uo indication of the chestnut." 



21 



