( 173 ) 



outer webs broadly margined with blue ; tail feathers dusky, barred 

 with white, and broadly edged with blue. Female with the band 

 crossing the upper part of the breast, tinged with reddish-brown ; a 

 band across the lower part of the breast, chestnut, of which color 

 are the sides of the body. Length of male twelve inches and a 

 half, wing six and a quarter. 



This — the only species found in North America — is met with on 

 all the streams in the United States, and it is said ranges over the 

 whole continent. The Kingfisher is more common in the interior 

 than on the sea coast ; its favorite resort is the uncultivated banks 

 of water courses, where, perched on a projecting limb, or mounted 

 on a stump, it watches for finned prey. At other times it is seen 

 passing rapidly over the surface of the water, or hovering over the 

 timid fry, leisurely reconnoitering their movements. This Avell 

 known and timid bird, Avhen alarmed, utters a loud scream, and 

 flies onward two or three hundred yards to another perch — thus 

 keeping in advance of the gunner until he becomes tired of pursuit. 



The nest of the Kingfisher is built in the high, dry bank of a 

 water course, in which it digs out a hole to the depth of several 

 feet. The eggs, five in number, are white and rounded. In au- 

 tumn it migrates southward. 



