THE BELTED KINGFISHER 165 



among birds and animals. The female is more bril- 

 liantly colored than her spouse. She is easily recognized 

 from the fact that she alone has the rufous belt across her 

 abdomen. She is easily the head of her household, and 

 usually has the best of everything. 



Kingfishers are common in other countries, and there 

 are a great many kinds varying in size from no larger 

 than a sparrow to birds larger than a small crow. They 

 belong to the family Alcedinidcs, and can always be rec- 

 ognized by the large head often with the feathers sticking 

 straight up, the long sharp beak, the powerful wings, 

 and the short stubby tail. No other bird looks much like 

 them. Our own kingfisher is about thirteen inches long 

 from the end of his beak to the end of his tail. His back 

 and upper parts are a blue gray, with light and dark 

 spots on his wings and tail. His throat and upper breast, 

 as well as his belly, are snow white. The white on his 

 throat extends completely around his neck, which makes 

 one think he is wearing a high, stiff collar. There is a 

 broad belt of blue gray which extends completely across 

 the breast from the butt of the wings downward about two 

 inches, which at a distance gives the appearance of a 

 black hand. The feathers on the head stick up like the 

 hair on the head of a ten-year-old boy. His feet are very 

 small, not much larger than those of a sparrow, yet they 

 are large enough for him to use in scratching away the 

 dirt when making a nest hole and to enable him to sit on a 

 limb. As he never tries to walk or hop, he has no use 

 for better feet and legs. Some of the foreign kingfishers 

 are brilliant in color, some even being a bright green, but 

 their habits are much the same. They love nothing so 

 much as solitude and a good clear stream of water in 



