fe THE BELTED KINGFISHER. 
average in measurement 1.60x.99 inches. A week often elapses between 
the laying of the first and the last egg. 
Upon one occasion I noticed a most interesting trait in these birds, 
which I never observed in any other species. While standing in an open 
woodland listening to a pair of Cuckoos calling to each other, I saw_ the 
male suddenly fly past with a large green worm in his bill. He flew directly 
to the female, who was perched in a tree a few yards distant, and for a 
moment or two they sat motionless a few inches apart looking at each other. 
The male then hovered lightly over his mate and, settling gently upon her 
shoulders, gracefully bent over and placed the worm in her bill. It was a 
pretty and daintily performed piece of love-making. 
J. H. Bow tes. 
No. 181. 
BELTED KINGFISHER. 
A. O. U. No. 390. Ceryle alcyon (Linn.). 
Synonym.—Commonly called plain KINGFISHER. 
Description.—A dult male: Above, bright bluish gray, feathers with blackish 
shafts or shaft-lines ; loosely crested ; edge of wing white; primaries dusky, white- 
spotted on outer web, narrowly white-tipped, broadly white on inner web; coverts 
often delicately tipped or touched with white; tail bluish gray above, the central 
feathers with herring-bone pattern of dusky; remaining feathers only blue-edged, 
dusky, finely and incompletely barred with white; lower eyelid white, and a white 
spot in front of eye; throat and sides of neck, nearly meeting behind, pure white; 
a broad band of bluish gray across the breast; remaining underparts white, sides 
under wing, and flanks, heavily shaded with blue-gray; bill black, pale at base 
below; feet dark. Adult female: Similar, but with a chestnut band across lower 
breast, and with heavy shading of the same color on sides. IJmmature: Like 
adults, except that the plumbeous band of breast is heavily mixed with rusty 
(suggesting chestnut of female). Length 12.00-14.00 (304.8-355.6) ; wing 6.21 
(157.7) ; tail 3.84 (97.5) ; bill from nostril 1.69 (42.9). 
Recognition Marks.—‘‘Kinefisher” size; blue-gray and white coloration; 
piscatorial habits; rattling cry. 
Nesting.—WNest: at end of tunnel in bank, four to six feet in, unlined. Eggs, 
6-8, pure white. Av. size, 1.31 x 1.04 (33.3 x 26.4). Season: May; one brood. 
General Range.—North America from the Arctic Ocean south to Panama 
and the West Indies. Breeds from the southern border of the United States 
northward. 
Range in Washington.—Summer resident, chiefly at lower levels; partially 
resident west of the Cascades, and casually resident on the East-side. 
Authorities.—[ Lewis and Clark, Hist. Ex. (1814) Ed. Biddle: Coues. Vol. 
II., p. 189.] Ceryle alcyon, Boie, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX., 1858, p. 158. 
T C&S: Ls Dt Sr Kb: Ra. D2) Ss Ss?) Kk. J. Be E: 
Specimens.—U. of W. P. Prov. B. BN. E. 
