114 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Rough-winged Swallow using burrows having a common entrance. It is 

 probable in each case that the swallow had commenced its diverging burrow 

 after the larger bird completed its work. 



A few cases have been recorded of the kingfisher nesting in other 

 cavities, where suitable sandbanks were not available. Mr. Forbush 

 (1927) says: "Mr. Herbert F. Moulton of Ware, Massachusetts, tells 

 me that he found a kingfisher's nest in a plowed field on a hillside. 

 The entrance was made in a 'dead furrow,' " Arthur H. Howell 

 (1932) says: "Baynard (1913) writes that in Alachua County 

 [Florida] the Kingfisher nests early in April in holes in dead trees 

 or stubs over water. He states, also (verbally), that he once found 

 a nest at Clearwater, 4 feet above water in a leaning stub, the en- 

 trance hole being on the under side ; this nest contained 4 eggs on 

 May 6." 



Beyer, Allison, and Kopman (1908) , referring to Louisiana, say : 



The character of the nest varies greatly with different conditions of soil : 

 On the coast it is content with such elevations as can be found on the shores, 

 and the burrow is sometimes scarcely more than a pocket in the clayey banks; 

 in the upper districts, the site is often far from water, and the soft, coarse- 

 grained soil renders easy the excavation of a burrow five or sis feet deep, 

 enlarged at the end, and often partly lined with leaves and pine straw; and 

 finally, a unique condition exists in the extensive gum-swamps in the lake 

 region of the southeast, where the land — always submerged — is perfectly flat, 

 and nothing stands above water except innumerable trees and stumps of Nyssa ; 

 the nest is placed in the top of a decaying stump, with no attempt at excavation. 



But tree-nesting is not wholly confined to the southern swamps, 

 for Dr. George M. Sutton (1928) writes: 



On May 27th, 1927, while observing Chimney Swifts at Bethany, Brooke 

 County, West Virginia, I saw a Kingfisher fly rapidly across an open field from 

 a near-by deep pool in Buffalo Creek, Wondering that it should thus cross over- 

 land, I watched it as it flew to a large, dead sycamore, not far from me, and 

 disappeared in a hole at the end of a short, thick, horizontal stub. Upon going 

 to the tree I heard the buzzing cries of the young birds. Shortly thereafter the 

 male parent flew away as the female came in. The nest was located about ten 

 feet from the ground in a large cavity near the juncture of the bough and the 

 main trunk. The young birds were lying about seven feet from the entrance. 

 The cavity was almost as dark as a bank burrow would have been. It is odd 

 that the Kingfishers chose such a site for their nest, since earthen banks 

 admirably suited to their needs were available along the creek. 



Eggs. — The number of eggs laid by the eastern belted kingfisher 

 varies ordinarily from five to eight, the commonest numbers being 

 6 and 7; on rare occasions as many as 11 or 14 eggs or young have 

 been found in a nest. If the first set of eggs is taken, the birds will 

 dig another burrow, often within a few feet of the first, and lay a 

 second set ; sometimes a third, or even a fourth, attempt will be made. 

 But only one brood is raised in a season. The eggs are short-ovate 

 or rounded-ovate in shape ; the shell is smooth and rather glossy ; they 



