304 NOIITII AMIIIIKWN lUUDS. 



served tluMii to hv i)res('iit, altlinir^U the river was not yot open. Those 

 that have migrated to the S(»iith make their reapijearante in spriii*; through- 

 out tlie eontinent as soon Jis, and not untVequently before, the ice has disap- 

 ]>eared from the rivers and ponds. 



It occui-s in extreme northern hititudes. !^^r. MacFarlane roreivtMl skins 

 from the Eskimos obtained ou the Arctic coast, and Mr. Dall fountl them 

 breeding at Fort Yukon, wliere it was (juite common on all the small streams 

 flowing into that liver. It was also found by Dr. Iliehardson frequenting 

 all the large streams of the fur countries, as far at least as the 67th parallel. 

 In California a larger race than our Atlantic species is found abundantly 

 along the coast, and about nearly every stream or lake in which the wrter 

 is not turbid an«l muddy. 



Mr. A. Newton reports this bird as a winter visitant at St. Croix, leaving 

 the island late in April. Tt fre([uents mangrove swamps and the mouths 

 of small streams, sometimes fishing half a mile out at sea. The stomach of 

 one contained sliells of crabs. The occurrence of two specimens of this 

 species in Irtdand is recorded by Mr. Tliompson. 



The Kingfisher is an eminently unsocial species. Tt is never found other 

 than in solitary pairs, and these are very rarely seen together. They feed 

 almost entirely upon fish, which tliey ca[)ture by plunging into the water, 

 and which thev alwavs swallow whole on emerging from their bath. Un- 

 digested portions of their food, such as scabis, bones, etc., they have the 

 power of occasit)nally ejecting from their stomachs. They may usually be 

 noticed by tlie side of streams, mill-ponds, and lakes, stationed on some con- 

 venient position that enables them to overlook a deep place suitable for 

 their purpose, and they rarely make a plunge without accomplishing their 

 oliject. 



The crv of the Kingtislier, uttered when he is disturbed, or when moving 

 from place to place, and occasionally just as he is about to make a plunge, 

 is loud and hai-sh, and resembles the noise made by a watchman's nittle. 

 This noise he makes repeatedly at all hours, and most especially at night, 

 during the breeding- season, whenever he returns to the nest with food for 

 his mate or young. 



They nest in deep holes excavated by themselves in the sides of streams, 

 ponds, or clifl's, not always in the immediate vicinity of water. These ex- 

 cavations are often near their accustomed fishing-grounds, in some neighbor- 

 ing bank, usuallv not manv feet from the uround, alwavs in drv gravel, and 

 sufficientlv high to l>e in no danger of inundation. Thev make their 

 burrow with great industry and rapidity, relieving one another from time 

 to time, and working incessantlv until the result is satisfactorilv accom- 

 plislied. When digging through a soft fine sand-bank their progress is 

 surprising, sometimes making a deep excavation in a single night. The 

 pages of " The American Naturalist " contain several animated contro- 

 versies as to the depth, the shape, and the equipments of these passages. 



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