KINGFISHER 485 



loses all these belligerent habits, and becomes comparatively quite 

 a quiet bird. His diet seems to be confined entirely to various 

 kinds of insects, of which he destroys vast quantities, that would 

 otherwise be destructive to the products of the farm.^ Indeed, he 

 is one of the husbandman's best friends, and in his tastes for bees 

 at a certain season of the year it is not yet proven to the contrary 

 that he selects only the drones upon which to regale himself. 



In appearance the King -bird is a species of plain plumage, 

 and the sexes are nearly alike. Above he is black, most intense 

 on the crown, where we also find a semiconcealed, longitudinal, 

 median dash of flame-coloured feathers, capable of erection, as a 

 crest, with the rest of the capital plumage. Below he is nearly 

 white, and his black tail is strongly tipped with the same. 

 Laterally, the white of the breast is shaded with plumbeous, and 

 his wings are dusky, bordered with whitish. He has a peculiar 

 wavering flight, something after the manner of certain small 

 Hawks ; while song he has none, possessing only the twittering- 

 note to which allusion has already been made, and which at times 

 is very shrill, being heard at some considerable distance. This 

 bird builds a large, compact nest of twigs, lined with fine grass, 

 and other materials interspersed throughout, as tow and fine roots. 

 The place chosen may be quite conspicuous, as in a low tree near 

 the wayside, or without regard to concealment in the middle of 

 the orchard, as in an apple-tree. Usually from four to six, the 

 eggs are of a creamy white, boldly dashed with elegant blotches of 

 various shades of brown, which chiefly encircle the larger end. 



It may with great truth be said, then, that on the whole the 

 King-bird is not only an interesting and handsome species, but 

 thoroughly deserving of our protection and encouragement, as he 

 is likewise useful and brave. E. W. Shufeldt. 



KINGFISHER — Kmigsfischer, Germ.-; Eoi-pdheux {=pkheur), 

 Walloon — the Alcedo isjnda of ornithologists, one of the most 

 beautiful and well-known of European birds, being found, though 

 nowhere very abundantly, in every country of this quarter of the 

 globe, as well as in North Africa and South-Western Asia as far as 

 Sindh. Its blue-green back and rich chestnut breast render it con- 

 spicuous as it frequents the streams and ponds whence it procures 

 its food, by plunging almost perpendicularly into the water, and 

 emerging a moment after with the prey — whether a small fish, a 

 crustacean, or an aquatic insect — it has captured. In hard frosts 



^ Other authorities state that at times the King-bird is very fond of certain 

 berries, especiallj'' blackberries, but I have not been able to personally verify 

 this. 



^ But more commonly called Eisvogel, which finds its counterpart in the 

 Anglo-Saxon Isern or Isen. 



