566 



AVES— BELTED KINGFISHER. 



tion somewhat more substantial. Amidst the roar of a cataract, or over the 

 foam of a torrent, he sits perched upon an overhanging bough, glancing his 

 piercing eye in every direction below for his scaly prey, which, with a 

 sudden circular plunge, he sweeps from their native element and swallows 

 in an instant. His voice, which is not unlike the twirling of a watchman's 

 rattle, is naturally loud, harsh, and sudden, but is softened by the sound of 

 the brawling streams, and cascades, among which he generally rambles. 

 He courses along the windings of the brook, or river, at a small height above 

 the surface. Sometimes suspending himself by the rapid action of his 



wings, ready to pounce on the prey below ; now and then settling on an old 

 dead overhanging limb to reconnoitre. Mill-dams are particularly visited 

 by this feathered fisher ; and the sound of his pipe is as well known to the 

 miller, as the rattling of his own hopper. 



Rapid streams, with high perpendicular banks, particularly if they be of a 

 hard clayey or sandy nature, are also favorite places of resort for this bird; 

 not only because in such places the fish are more exposed to view, but 

 because those steep and high banks are the chosen situations for his nest. 

 Into these he digs with his bill horizontally, sometimes four or five feet. 

 The nest is built of few materials. They are very tenacious of their haunts, 

 breeding for several successive years in the same hole, and do not readily 

 forsake it, even though it be visited. Many fabulous stories have been 

 related by the ancients, of the nest and manner of hatching of the kingfisher. 



