BELTED KINGFISHER. 57 



Of the notes of the barn swallow Mr. Bicknell 

 says : " An almost universal misconception re- 

 gards the swallows as a tribe of song-less birds. 

 But the barn swallow has as true claims to song 

 as many species of long-established recognition as 

 song birds. Its song is a low, chattering trill . . . 

 often terminating with a clear liquid note with an 

 accent as of interrogation, not unlike one of the 

 notes of the canary. This song is wholly distinct 

 from the quick, double - syllabled note which so 

 constantly escapes the bird during flight." 



XVI. 



BELTED KINGFISHER. 



THE robin lives on neighborly terms in our 

 dooryard, the swift secretes himself in our chim- 

 neys, the humming-bird hovers in our gardens, 

 the barn swallow circles around our barns, the 

 catbird talks to himself in our orchards, the oriole 

 hangs his " hammock " from our. elms, the bobo- 

 link holds gay possession of our fields till the 

 mower comes to dispute his claim, and the yellow- 

 hammer appoints himself inspector general of our 

 ant-hills, fence-posts, and tree trunks; but the 

 kingfisher cares nothing for us or our habitations. 

 He goes off by himself into the heart of the wil- 

 derness, not to crouch among the brown leaves on 

 the ground like the partridge, but to fly high and 



