THE KINGFISHER. 437 



tinguished, when flying towards one, by the absence of the 

 pectoral band of the former; and when in the hand, it is 

 found to be a little larger, not so clear white underneath, 

 and lacking " the curious little tuft of feathers at the bottom 

 of the tarsus," so characteristic of the former; while the 

 recurved outer web of the primaries, in the male, equally 

 differentiates it, as well as secures its common name. It, 

 too, generally breeds in banks, though "it has been found 

 breeding about the piers and abutments of bridges, etc." 

 (Coues.) It is "distributed, during the breeding season, 

 throughout the United States exclusive of New England." 

 (Maynard.) 



The Bank Swallow, unlike the Swallows generally, seems 

 unaffected, in its habits of nidification, by the introduction 

 of civilization; but both it and the Rough-wing seem less 

 noisy and less musical than their congeners. 



THE KINGFISHER. 



Never did I see anywhere so many Kingfishers as on the 

 Niagara River. At my tenting ground, on Buckhorn 

 Island, they were almost constantly in view, and never before 

 did they seem to me to be so fine an ornament to the land- 

 scape. Their flight, as they passed up and down those 

 lovely waters, moving in long curves, caused by a more 

 rapid beating of the wings every few yards, and thus throw- 

 ing themselves up at intervals, was really graceful. Their 

 forms, too, seemed especially graceful; their long wings, so 

 finely marked, as they opened in flight, with a long bill and 

 crest overtopping the pure white neck, all added to the 

 pleasing figure. The Kingfisher can hover as elegantly as 

 any Falcon, while he eyes his prey in the clear depths; and 

 his adroitness in plunging head first into the water, utterly 

 burying himself in search of his sprightly game, and again 



