KINGFISHERS 



133 



As their name implies, they feed chiefly on small fishes, though some of the Old World 

 species are forest birds and subsist on reptiles and other forms of animal life. Although 

 small fishes are the principal portion of the diet of Kingfishers, they destroy also a few 

 aquatic insects which do injur}- to the young of fish and frogs. 



Some of the forest-inhabiting species of the eastern hemisphere nest in cavities of 

 trees, but the true Kingfishers nest in holes which they dig in banks. The five to eight 

 eggs are invariably pure white. The young are hatched naked and are cared for in the 

 nest after the manner of perching birds. 



BELTED KINGFISHER 

 Ceryle alcyon {Lhnicnts) 



A. O. V. .\uinl)cr .J90 



Other Names. — Kinglisher; the Halcyon. 



General Description. — Length. 12 inches. Color of 

 upper part.s and of belt, bluish-gray; under parts, 

 white; females with a reddish band across abdomen. 

 Head, crested. 



Color. — .Xiu'i.T M.ale: .'\bovc. including sides of 

 head, clear bluish-gray interrupted by a white collar 

 across hindneck ; feathers of crown (especially those 

 of crest) with a center streak of black, those of back, 

 wings, etc., with very slender black shaft-streaks, wing- 

 coverts and secondaries usually with a few minute 

 irregular white markings, the latter with portion of 

 outer web ne.xt to shaft and most of inner web, black; 

 primary coverts and primaries, slate-black, the first 

 minutely tipped with white, the primaries with basal 

 half spotted with white, the inner ones, together with 

 the outer secondaries, rather narrowly tipped with 

 white; middle pair of tail-feathers, bluish-gray with a 

 center streak of black (this sometimes confined to 

 shaft), the latter usually margined on each side by 

 small white spots ; remaining tail-feathers, slate-black, 

 the outer web (except of lateral pair) broadly edged 

 with bluish-gray, the inner black portion spotted with 

 white, the inner webs barred with white ; outermost 

 similar but without distinct, if any, bluish-gray edging, 

 the white spots reaching to outer margin ; a conspicu- 

 ous spot of white in front of eye and another but 



.•^tc Color Plate 58 



smaller white spot immediately beneath eye ; rear of 

 cheeks, sides of neck, chin, throat, and foreneck, im- 

 maculate white, the front of cheeks deep bluish-gray 

 or broadly streaked with the same ; a broad baud of 

 hluish-tjray across chest: rest of under parts, white, the 

 sides and flanks mostly bluish-gray (usually inter- 

 mixed or flecked with white) ; under wing-coverts, and 

 greater part of basal half of inner webs of primaries, 

 immaculate white ; bill, black ; irij, dark brown ; legs and 

 feet, livid slate color. Adult Femaie: Similar to the 

 adult male btit icjV/i o band (sometimes incomplete or 

 interrupted) across lower breast, together with sides 

 and flanks, cinnamon-rufnus, the innermost under wing- 

 coverts sometimes tinged or suffused with the same. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: At extreme end of a bur- 

 row in the bank, from 4 to 15 feet long. Eggs: 5 to 8, 

 laid on the bare floor of the enlarged extremity of the 

 tunnel. 



Distribution. — North America and northern South 

 .'\merica ; breeds from northwestern Alaska, north- 

 western Mackenzie, central Keewatin, northern Quebec, 

 and Newfoundland south to the southern border of the 

 United States; winters from British Columbia, 

 Nebraska, Illinois. Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia south 

 to the West Indies, Colombia, and Guiana, and irregu- 

 larly as far north as Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 

 and Ontario. 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



BELTED KINGFISHER (male; » nat. size) 

 A feathered Ike Walton who is a stickler for his fishing rights 



