ALCEDINID^ — THE KINGFISHERS. 



393 



Primaries white on the basal half, the terminal unspotted. Tail with transverse bands 



and sjaots of white. Female and young with sides of body and a band across the 



belly below the pectoral one 



light chestnut: the pectoral band ^ "" ~^^ ^^"^y^T^^"^ ~ ==i 



more or less tinged with the ~ 



same. Length of adult about 



12.75 inches ; wing, 6.00. 



Hab. The entire continent of 

 North America to Panama, in- 

 cluding West Indies. Locali- 

 ties : Honduras (Moore, P. Z. S. 

 1859, 53 ; Scl. Ibis, II, 116) ; Sta. 

 Cruz, winter (Newton, Ibis, I, 

 67); Belize (Scl. Ibis, I, 131); 

 York Factory, H. B. T. (Murray, 

 Edinb. Phil. J. Jan. 1860) ; Cuba 

 (Cab. J. IV, 101 ; Gundl. Rep. 

 1. 1866, 292) ; Bahamas (Bryant, 

 Bost. Soc. VII, 1859); Jamaica 

 (GossE, Birds Jam. 81 ; Orizaba 

 (Scl. P. Z. S. 1860, 253) ; Pan- 

 ama (Lawr. N. Y. Lye. 1861, 

 318 n.) ; Costa Rica (Cab. J. 1862, . ^"^^^ "^'y""- 



162; Lawr. N. Y. Lye. IX, 118); Tobago (Jard. Ann. Mag. 19, 80); Texas (Dresser, 

 Ibis, 1865, 471); Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 59); Sta. Bartholemy (Sdnd. Ofv. 

 1869, 585). 



This species varies considerably in size with locality, as do so many 

 others. Western specimens are appreciably larger, especially those from the 

 northwest coast. According to Nuttall and Audubon, it is the female that 

 has the transverse band of chestnut across the belly. In this they may be 

 correct ; but several specimens in the Smithsonian collection marked female 

 (perhaps erroneously) show no indication of the chestnut.^ 



Two closely allied but much larger species belong to Middle and South 

 America. They differ in having the whole body beneath of a reddish 

 color. 



Habits. The common Belted Kingfisher of North America is a widely 

 distributed species at all times, and in the summer is found in every portion 

 of North America, to the Arctic Ocean on the north, and from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific. It is more or less resident throughout the year, and in 

 mild and open winters a few have been known to linger throughout New 

 England, and even in higher latitudes. In 1857 Captain Blakiston found 

 it remaining on the lower part of the Saskatchewan Eiver until the 7th 

 of October; and afterwards, in 1859, at Pembina, on the 1st of May, he ob- 



^ This confounding of the two sexes has probably resulted from guess-work of the collector, 

 who, noticing the marked difference between the inale and female, and naturally supposing the 

 former to be the more brightly colored, marked the i-ufous-breasted specimens accordingly ; 

 while the few marked correctly may have been thus labelled after careful dissection. 



VOL. H. 50 



