same position, occasionally moving its head back and forward, watching for its 

 prey as a cat does for a mouse. In such a posture the Kingfisher is one of the 

 most charming features of brook and pool. Should an unfortunate fish come 

 within sight at such times, our lone fisher is at once alert enough, craning its neck 

 and looking into the water until the proper moment arrives for it to plunge down- 

 ward, head first, completely disappearing out of sight, and usually emerging with 

 wriggling captive firmly grasped in its bill, for it rarely misses its victim. It 

 generally rises some feet in the air before dashing perpendicularly into the water. 



While different kinds of small fish undoubtedly constitute a large part of the 

 Kingfisher's food where readily procurable, various species of Crustacea, and such 

 insects as beetles, grasshoppers, and the large black crickets found in many of 

 our Western states, are also eaten, as well as frogs and lizards. 



In favorite spots where fish are plenty, and where there is no suitable place 

 for a perch, they sometimes remain poised for a minute or more, hovering in the 

 air some six feet over the water, as does the Sparrow Hawk when searching for 

 grasshoppers and mice in a meadow. When a fish is caught it is at once carried 

 in the bill to the nearest perch or rock, against which it is beaten until dead, and is 

 then swallowed head first. The indigestible parts, such as bones and scales, are 

 afterwards ejected through the mouth in oblong pellets, which can be seen lying 

 around in their burrows or about their favorite perches. 



The first migrants to return from their winter quarters appear in the Middle 

 states generally about the second week in March, and sometimes a week or so 

 later, according to the season. In higher latitudes they appear later and not until 

 after the ice commences to break up. In our Southern states nest-making com- 

 mences usually in April ; in the Northern ones, rarely before the first week in 

 May, and in arctic North America and northern Alaska, seldom earlier than the 

 latter half of June. The return migration from their breeding grounds in our 

 Northern states sometimes begins about the latter part of September, and in 

 mild falls not before the middle of October, and occasionally still later, the birds 

 remaining until the streams become covered with ice. 



The favorite nesting sites of the Kingfisher are perpendicular clay or reason- 

 ably compact sand banks, occasionally mixed more or less with gravel. These 

 banks or blufifs usually abut directly on water. A nearly circular burrow or 

 tunnel is dug into these, averaging about four inches in diameter. They are 

 excavated by the birds ; the entrance hole is usually from two to three feet below 

 the top of the bank, but sometimes fully twenty feet from the top. The burrows 

 vary in length from four to fifteen feet, according to the nature of the soil, and 

 sometimes run in perfectly straight for the entire distance; again they diverge 

 at dififerent angles, at various distances from the entrance. The nesting-chamber 

 is dome-shaped, usually from eight to ten inches in diameter, and always at a 

 slightly higher level than the entrance hole. 



The time required to dig out a burrow depends largely on the nature of the 



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