112 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



them — I have heard a mewing note uttered in rapid succession, 

 almost if not quite as loud as the familiar rattle of the species. 

 These same birds — or two of them at least — also kept up a con- 

 tinual, prolonged rattle." 



Nesting. — The nest of the belted kingfisher is almost invariably 

 in a burrow in a sandy, clay, or gravelly bank, excavated by the 

 birds themselves. The site chosen is preferably near water and as 

 near the favorite fishing grounds of the birds as a suitable bank can 

 be found. But such banks are not always to be found in the most 

 convenient places, so the birds are forced to nest in any bank they 

 can find, often at a long distance from any water, such as the 

 embankment of a railroad cut, the cliff of a sand dune, or a bank by 

 a roadside where sand or gravel has been taken out for grading. On 

 Cape Cod, the sandpits made while sanding cranberry bogs are favor- 

 ite sites. The burrow may be at any height from the base of the 

 cliff, depending on the height of the cliff, but it is usually not more 

 than 2 or 3 feet from the top, though Major Bendire (1895) says 

 that it is sometimes as much as 20 feet below the top of the cliff. 

 The burrow extends iuAvard, sloping slightly upward, for varying 

 distances, usually from 3 to 6 feet, but sometimes as much as 10 or 

 even 15 feet; as kingfishers sometimes use the same burrow for 

 several years in succession, it may be that the deepest burrows are 

 the oldest and have been extended from year to year to provide a 

 fresh, clean nest. The burrow is usually straight, or nearly so, but 

 often it curves somewhat, or makes a more or less abrupt turn to 

 the right or left. One that I dug out ran straight in for 3 feet, made 

 an abrupt turn to the left, and then made a reverse curve, so that the 

 nest was only about 2 feet from the face of the cliff. The entrance 

 and the tumiel itself are not quite circular, being usually about 3i/^ 

 to 4 inches wide and 3 to 3^/2 inches high; an occupied burrow can 

 generally be recognized by the footmarks of the bird, a central 

 ridge with a furrow on each side of it, made by the bird as it 

 enters or leaves the nest. The nest is placed in an enlarged chamber, 

 which may be directly at the end of the tunnel, or a little to one side 

 of it, and usually a little above the level of the tunnel. The chamber 

 varies considerably in size and shape but is approximately circular 

 and dome-shaped ; it is usually 10 to 12 inches in diameter and 6 to 7 

 inches in height. Often the eggs are laid on the bare sand or gravel 

 which probably indicates that the nest is a new one, or that the 

 eggs are fresh; of toner, perhaps, the nesting chamber is lined with 

 bits of clean, v.'hite fish bones, fish scales, or fragments of the shells 

 of crustaceans; these, I believe, are the remains of ejected pellets 

 and indicate that the nest has been previously occupied by young 

 birds or that the female has been fed on the nest for some time; 



