348 BRITISH BIRDS. 
CERYLE ALCYON. 
BELTED KINGFISHER. 
(PxatE 18.) 
Ispida carolinensis cristata, Briss, Orn. iv. p. 512 (1760). 
Alcedo aleyon, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 180 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Wilson, Audubon, Brewer, (Sharpe), (Newton), &c. 
Ispida ludoviciana, Gel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 452 (1788). 
Alcedo jaguacate, Dumont, Dict. Sct. Nat. i. p. 455 (1816). 
Alcedo guacu, Vietll. N. Dict. d Hist. Nat. xix. p. 406 (1818). 
Ceryle aleyon (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1828, p. 316. 
Ispida alcyon (Linn.), Swains, Classif. B. ii. p. 336 (1837). 
Megaceryle domingensis, Reich. Handb. Alced. p. 25, t. eccex. fig. 3105 (1851). 
Megaceryle aleyon (Linn), Reich. Handb. Alced. p. 25, t. cccexii. figs. 3108-9 
(1851). 
Streptoceryle aleyon (Linn.), Cab. Mus. Heine, ii. p. 151 (1860). 
Chloroceryle aleyon (Linn), Sclater, Cat. Am. Birds, p. 264 (1862). 
The Belted Kingfisher may fairly claim to be inserted in the list of 
British birds as an accidental straggler on migration. In the northern 
portion of its range it is migratory, and is said to be one of the most 
regular winter visitors to the Bermudas. It is therefore not by any means 
impossible that birds may occasionally lose their way on migration, and 
even reach the United Kingdom. ‘Two examples of the Belted Kingfisher 
have occurred in our islands, both of them in Ireland. The first specimen, 
said to be a female, was shot at Annsbrook, in the county of Meath, on the 
26th of October, 1844, by F. A. Smith, Esq.; and the second example on 
the banks of a stream connecting Lake Luggela with Lough Dan, in the 
county of Wicklow, in November of the same year (Thompson, Ann. Nat. 
Hist. 1845, p. 69). Other examples have been recorded from Ireland, but 
the evidence is not equally satisfactory. 
The Belted Kingfisher is found throughout the continent of North 
America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Arctic Ocean to 
Central America and Trinidad. In the northern portions of its extensive 
range, where the winters are severe, it is only a summer visitor; but 
further south it appears to bea resident. It visits the Bermudas in winter, 
and is said to be a resident in some of the West-Indian islands. 
The Belted Kingfisher very closely resembles the Common Kingfisher in 
its habits; but the haunts it frequents are somewhat different. It delights 
to take up its quarters on the banks of swift-flowing streams, in mangrove- 
swamps, or near lakes and ponds, especially near mill-dams; and it is 
