198 BELTED KINGFISHER. 



extremity of the hole ; that he and his mate may have room to turn 

 ■with convenience. The eggs are five, pure white, and the first brood 

 usually comes out about the beginning of June, and sometimes sooner, 

 according to that part of the country where they reside. On the shores 

 of Kentucky river, near the town of Frankfort, I found the female sit- 

 ting early in April. They are very tenacious of their haunts, breeding 

 for several successive years in the same hole, and do not readily forsake 

 it, even though it be visited. An intelligent young gentleman informed 

 me, that having found where a Kingfisher built, he took away its eggs, 

 from time to time, leaving always one behind, until he had taken no less 

 than eighteen from the same nest. At some of these visits, the female 

 being within, retired to the extremity of the hole while he withdrew the 

 egg, and next day, when he returned, he found she had laid again as 

 usual. 



The fabulous stories related by the ancients of the nest, manner of 

 hatching, &c., of the Kingfisher, are too trifling to be repeated here. 

 Over the winds and the waves the humble Kingfishers of our days, at 

 least the species now before us, have no control. Its nest is neither con- 

 structed of glue nor fish-bones ; but of loose grass and a few feathers. 

 It is not thrown on the surface of the water to float about, with its pro- 

 prietor, at random ; but snugly secured from the winds and the weather 

 in the recesses of the earth; neither is its head or its feathers believed, 

 even by the most illiterate of our clowns and seamen, to be a charm for 

 love, a protection against witchcraft, or a security for fair weather. It 

 is neither venerated like those of the Society Isles, nor dreaded like 

 those of some other countries ; but is considered merely as a bird that 

 feeds on fish ; is generally fat ; relished by some as good eating ; and is 

 now and then seen exposed for sale in our markets. 



Though the Kingfisher generally remains with us, in Pennsylvania, 

 until the commencement of cold weather, it is seldom seen here in 

 winter ; but returns to us early in April. In North and South Carolina, 

 I observed numbers of these birds in the months of February and 

 March. I also frequently noticed them on the shores of the Ohio, in 

 February, as high up as the mouth of the Muskingum. 



I suspect this bird to be a native of the Bahama Islands, as well as 

 of our continent. In passing between these isles and the Florida shore, 

 in the month of July, a .Kingfisher flew several times round our ship, 

 and afterwards shot oif to the south. 



The length of this species is twelve inches and a half, extent twenty ; 

 back and whole upper parts a light bluish slate color ; round the neck 

 is a collar of pure white, which reaches before to the chin ; head large, 

 crested, the feathers long and narrow, black in the centre, and generally 

 erect ; the shafts of all the feathers, except the white plumage, are 

 black ; belly and vent white ; sides under the wings variegated with 



