RINGED KINGFISHER 13 
RINGED KINGFISHER 
Ceryle torquata 
Above greyish blue with narrow black shaft-stripes and small round 
white spots; wings black with a portion of the inner webs towards 
the base white, tail black barred with white; beneath chestnut-red ; 
throat and belly white; length 15 inches. Female similar but with 
broad blue pectoral band. 
Tus beautiful bird, the largest of the American 
Kingfishers, is found throughout the greater portion 
of South and Central America. In Argentina it is 
not common but is widely distributed and is known 
both in Buenos Ayres and Patagonia. In southern 
Patagonia it varies in colour and is of a slatey grey- 
blue on the upper parts, thickly sprinkled like a 
guinea-fowl with minute round white spots, hence 
the specific name stellata, bestowed on it by some 
ornithologists who regard it as a separate species. 
Notwithstanding its wide distribution and great 
beauty, little has been recorded of the habits of this 
species. In Amazonia, Bartlett says, “it breeds in 
company with Ceryle amazona. The nest, however, 
is placed very much deeper in the bank than in the 
case of the last-named bird, the hole being from four 
to six feet in depth, with a chamber at the end 
sufficiently large for the young birds when nearly 
full-grown.” 
Two other species of Kingfishers range as far 
south as the Buenos Ayres pampas. The first, a 
third less in size than the Ringed Kingfisher, is the 
