KIX(^,FISHERS 



135 



sun, and ever afterwards its plumage showed 

 the colors of the evening sky. Another lieauti- 

 ful old fable is that Alcyone, daughter of -•I'^olus, 

 grieved so deeply for her husband, who had been 

 shipwrecked, that she threw herself into the sea, 

 and was immediately changed into a Kingfisher, 

 called ' Halcyon ' by the ancient Latin-sjieaking 

 peojjle. 



" Pliny says : ' Halcyons lay and sit about mid- 

 winter when daies be shortest; and the time 

 whiles they are broodie is called the halcyon 

 daies ; for during that season the sea is calm and 



navigable.' [The popular belief was that the 

 seven days preceding the shortest day of the 

 year were used in building the nest, and the seven 

 days following were devoted to hatching the eggs. 

 These fourteen days were called ' halcyon 

 days.'] I'Aen now the adjective ' halcyon ' repre- 

 sents calm and peaceful days devoted to pleasant 

 outings in woods or fields or along ocean-beaches, 

 or to i)addling u]) some quiet river, all the while 

 learning to know the trees and wild flowers, 

 and the songs and forms of birds." 



George Gladden. 



TEXAS KINGFISHER 

 Ceryle americana septentrionalis Sharpe 



A. O. U. Number 391. 



Other Name. — Tex.m Green Kingfisher. 



General Description. — Length, 8 inches. Color 

 above, green; below, white; males with a patch of 

 chcstnut-rutous on the chest. No crest. 



Color. — Adult Male: Above, including sides of 

 head (except cheeks), dark metallic bronze-green, 

 darker and duller on crown, especially the forehead, 

 interrupted by a white collar across hindneck ; fore- 

 head freckled with whitish; wing-coverts, usually 

 immaculate, but sometimes with a few minute spots or 

 streaks of white ; secondaries with a sub-basal narrow 

 band of white, continuous across both webs, this white 

 increasing in extent on inner secondaries where it 

 involves the whole basal half; about midway between 

 this band and tip of secondaries is another band, com- 

 posed of small white s])Ots confined to outer portion of 

 outer web. this followed by another one of much 

 smaller white spots, w^hile usually each secondary has 

 a minute white terminal spot or edging; inner pri- 

 maries, usually with a single small white spot on outer 

 web; middle pair of tail-feathers, mostly blackish. 



glosseil with bluish or bluish-green, usually spotted on 

 inner web with white, sometimes wholly blackish ; next 

 jiair, blackish, the inner web with roundish white spots; 

 four outer feathers (on each side), immaculate white 

 for basal half or more, the terminal portion, blackish 

 broken by white spots or bars on inner web ; front of 

 cheeks, greenish-black, the remainder white (sometimes 

 spotted with greenish-black in front or along lower 

 portion), forming a conspicuous stripe which involves 

 the side of neck; chin, throat, and center of upper fore- 

 neck, immaculate white; sides of upper foreneck. chest, 

 and side portion of upper breast, deep chestnut-rufous; 

 rest of under parts, white, the sides and flanks heavily 

 spotted with greenish-black, this heavy spotting extend- 

 ing across lower breast ; under tail-coverts with spots 

 of greenish-black; under wing-coverts, white, with a 

 large V-shaped area of dusky; inner web of wings with 

 large spots of white; bill, black; iris, dark brown; legs 

 and feet, dusky. Adult Fem.ale: Similar to the adult 

 male but without any chestnut-rufous, the upper chest, 

 immaculate buffy-white or pale buff (like foreneck. 



Photograph by .\. A. Allen 



BELTED KINGFISHER WITH SMALL SUCKER 



