242 birds of ontakio. 



Suborder ALCYONES. Kingfishers. 



Family ALCEDIXiDyE. Kingfishers. 



Genus CERYLE Boie. 



Subgenus STREPTOCERYLE Bonaparte. 



CERYLE ALCYON (Linn.). 



170. Belted Kingfisher. (390) 



Upper parts, In-oad pectoral l>ar, ami sides uii<ler wings, dull ]>\uv with tine 

 black shaft lines ; lower eye-lid, spot liefore eye, a cervical collar and under 

 parts, except as said, pure white ; the ftmalc with a chestnut belly l)and, and 

 the sides of the same color ; (juills and tail featheis, black, speckled, blotched 

 and barred with white on the inner wel)s ; outer webs of the secondaries and 

 tail feathers, like the back ; wing coverts, frequently sprinkled with wliite ; 

 bill, black, pale at the base below; feet, dark. Lengtii, 12 or more; wing, 

 about 6; tail, 3i ; whole foot, 1^ ; bill, about, 2^. 



Hab. — North America, south to Panama and the West Indies. 



Nest, none. 



Eggs, six to eiglit, white, deposited in an culargenient at the end of a 

 tunnel, four to eight feet deep, <lug l)y the liiid into a sand liank or giavel pit. 



The Kingfisher is generally disti-ibuted throughout Ontario. It, 

 ari'ives early in April, and soon makes its presence known bv its 

 loud, rattling cry, as it dashes along and perches on a hoi'izontal 

 bough overhanging the river. On some such point of observatif»n it 

 usually waits and watches for its scal}^ W^Ji ^^^* when ])assing over 

 open water of greater extent, it is often observed to chec-k its course, 

 hover hawk-like at some distance above the surface, and tlicti dasli 

 into the water after the manner of a Tern. If a fish be secured, it is 

 carried in the bill to some convenient perch, oji which it is hainiiicred 

 till dead, and then swallowed head downwarfls. 



The Kingfisher is a strong flier, and is sometimes seen caivcring at 

 a considerable height, as if for exercise. 



Although many of them breed thi-oughout (Ontario, numl)ers pro- 

 ceed much farther north. In Manitoim and the North-West tliey 

 occur in all suitable j^laces, and in Alaska they are found along the 

 entire course of the Yukon River, reaching the shores 'of Behring 

 8ea. They have also been taken at Sitka, and fr('(|U('nt all the clear 

 streams of the interior, nesting as they do elsewhere, in a deep 

 burrow in a bank dug out by themselves. 



They are not sensitive to cold, for in open seasons I have seen 

 them remaining till January, Imt when the frost forces the fish to 

 retire to deep water, the Kingfisher's suj)ply of food is cut ott", and 

 he has to move to the south. 



