BELTED KINGFISHER 159 



the inability of some birds to indulge the social 

 instinct, for the Kingfisher's feeding habits may 

 well necessitate private preserves. Whatever sea- 

 birds may do, trout-stream fishermen can ill afford 

 to go in flocks. To be sure, though the king of 

 fishermen, this sensible bird does not always 

 restrict himself to a diet of fish. In the east, if 

 opportunity offers, he eats crustaceans, grasshop- 

 pers, crickets, and beetles of the June bug family ; 

 and in Arizona, where rivers are scarce and 

 deserts plenty, he. lives mainly on beetles, grass- 

 hoppers, and lizards. 



Like the Yireos, Flycatchers, and Hawks and 

 Owls, the Kingfishers have the power of ejecting 

 pellets of the indigestible bones 

 and scales which they have swal- 

 lowed whole. These are found 

 around the burrows where they 

 nest. Fio. 82. 



Like the Bank Swallows, though Undeveloped foot 

 their feet are undeveloped (Fig. of Kin fi * her - 

 82), they use them as trowels for excavating holes 

 in sandbanks. Major Bendire says that while it 

 may take a pair three weeks to excavate their nest, 

 he has known them to make a tunnel five feet long 

 in a little over three days. He says the male 

 sometimes burrows a second hole over three feet 

 deep, in which to sleep. By flashing a mirror 

 into one of the burrows, Mr. Fuertes has seen one 

 of the brooding birds on her nest. The young 



