KINGFISHERS 199 



quieter phases of nature, with still woodland pools and smooth lakes, 

 where they give a vivifying touch of active wild life. In a remote 

 narrow canyon, how they thrill you as they dash by overhead a 

 flash of blue and white ! 



When you are idling beside a pellucid stream like the Merced, 

 where each overhanging leafy branch is mirrored, each tiny fish seen 

 as it lies in the still water, sometimes a sudden plunge and splash 

 startles you from a diver who before has been watching from his 

 branch, as silent as the brook. He circles back to his perch, where 

 his fish glints in the sun as he shakes it, and throwing up his long 

 bill, swallows, cleans his beak on the branch, and with a satisfied 

 rattle turns to look about, blue crest raised, white collar shining, 

 and short tail tipped up in an animated way. Four plunges I 

 have seen him make in almost as many seconds, stopping to preen 

 himself only after the fourth wetting. Once when he dived in shal- 

 low water he did not take the trouble to fly up but stood on the sand 

 with tail at an angle till he had finished his fish. When watching 

 a pool he will sometimes stand in air hovering over the water a 

 moment, then rise and hover at a higher level. 



Though generally found along woodland streams, the kingfishers 

 are seen sometimes perched on the rigging of vessels in the har- 

 bors. 



[390.1.] Ceryle torquata (Linn.). GREAT RUFOUS-BELLIED KING- 

 FISHER. 



Adult male. Upper parts bluish gray, more or less streaked with black ; 

 tail spotted with white ; throat and nuchal collar white ; breast and belly 

 rufous; under tail coverts and anal region white. Adult female: similar, 

 but breast grayish blue, usually bordered behind by white, and lower tail 

 coverts and anal region rufous. Length : 15.50-17.00, wing about 7.50. 



Distribution. Tropical America (except West Indies). Casual on the 

 lower Rio Grande in Texas. 



391- Ceryle americana septentrionalis Sharpe. TEXAS 

 KINGFISHER. 



Small ; head not crested. Adult male : upper parts green, spotted on 

 wings with white ; chest crossed by broad band of chestnut, bordered be- 

 low, by green spots ; throat, collar, and belly 

 white. Adult female : similar to male but with- 

 out chestnut, and with two bands of green spots 

 across breast. Young male : like adult, but 

 breast more or less tinged with rusty. Length : 6.75-8.50, wing 3.40-3.50, 

 tail 2.70-2.75, exposed culmen 1.65-1.85. 



Distribution. From southern Texas and Sinaloa, Mexico, south to 

 Panama. 



Nest.. A burrow in a bank. Eggs : 5 to 6, white. 



Food. Like that of Ceryle alcyon. 



The habits of the little Texas kingfisher are said to be the same as 



