CHAPTER XIII 



The Belted Kingfisher: Ceryle Alcyon 



IN EMBANKMENTS 



As THE cashier pushed the 

 amount of my check under the 

 wicket, Mr. William Hale, the 

 bookkeeper, turned from his desk, 

 touching the tips of his thumbs 

 and first fingers in an oval, as he 

 asked: "What does a hole shaped 

 so, and running six feet back into 

 a solid embankment, mean?" 



"Is the bottom of it like this?" 

 I questioned, picking up a pencil 

 and drawing a line. 



"Yes, it is," he answered. 



"Then," I said, "it means 

 Kingfishers. The middle curve is 

 formed by their breasts and the 

 side tracks by their funny little 

 crippled feet. W r here did you find 

 a hole like that? 



"Found it on my farm while 

 taking Helen and Mary for a walk 

 yesterday. It is in the back wall of 

 the old pit from which the Grand 

 Rapids people took the gravel for the railway." 



167 



WAITING FOR LUNCH 



