THE COMMON KINGFISHER. 135 



frequent the same hole for many successive years, and rear many broods within the same 

 habitation. The extremity of the burrow where the eggs are placed is always rather larger 

 than the tunnel itself, and is expanded into a globular chamber for the purpose of affording a 

 sufficiency of space for the parents and their young. It is said that when a supposed 

 enemy approaches the nest, the parent birds employ various artifices to draw his attention 

 away from the sacred spot, and by fluttering al)0ut as if wounded or disabled, will often suc- 

 ceed in their endeavors. When the young are hatched, the parents are remarkably attentive 

 to them, as might be suj^posed from the reckless manner in which they expose themselves 

 to danger for the sake of their offspring. 



The coloring of this spirited little bird is rather complicated and not very easy of descrip- 

 tion. The head is furnished with a crest of long pointed feathers, which can be raised or 

 depressed at will, and the whole upper surface of the body is light blue, marked with a gi'eat 

 number of narrow dark streaks caused by the black-blue shaft of each feather. Tlie wings are 

 blackish-brown, bound with white upon the primaries, and diversified with blue upon the 

 exterior web of the secondaries. The sides are covered with bine mottlings, a belt of the 

 same bright hue crosses the chest, and a broad white band encircles the neck, throat, and 

 chin. The tail is black-brown barred with white, with the exception of the two central 

 feathers, which are blue. Tlie length of this bird is about one foot. 



The voice of the Belted Kingfisher is loud, dissonant, and startling, and has been com- 

 pared by Wilson to the sound produced by twirling a watchman's rattle. 



The Belted Kingfisher {Ceryle alcyon) is a very familiar bird in New England and the 

 Northern States. It is occasionally seen in Maine during the winter months. 



Asia presents us with a remarkably fine representative of the same genus in the handsome 

 Spotted Kingfisher, several specimens of which bird are to be found in the British Museum. 

 This magnificent bird, which is appropriately called by the natives Muchee-bag, /. e. , Fish- 

 Tiger, is an inhabitant of India, where it seems to be confined to the Himalayan district. 



In size it is but little inferior to the Great African Kingfisher, being one foot thi-ee inches 

 in length, and bearing a bill three inches long. The chest and sides of the neck of the Fish- 

 Tiger are of a beautiful grayish-white, which slightly deepens into a very pale fawn on the 

 abdomen and the under tail-coverts. The remainder of the body is covered with Jetty black 

 plumage, relieved by numerous spots of pure white, and the head is decorated with a large 

 noble-looking crest, composed of elongated feathers of the same boldly contrasting hues. A 

 few black spots form a curved line between the bill and the shoulder, and also are scattered in 

 an uninterrupted ) land across the chest. The food of this bird consists mostly of fish, although 

 it feeds also on aquatic insects. Its nest is made among large stones, and is not composed 

 only of fish-bones, as is the case with the common European Kingfisher, but is rather elab- 

 orately constructed of mud lined with grasses, and adheres to the stones after the fashion of 

 the weU-known swallows' nest. The eggs are four in number, and the young birds resemble 

 the parent bird in their markings. 



Another species of Ceryle, the Black and White Kingfisher {Ceryle rudis), is remark- 

 able for the peculiarity of tinting from which it derives its name, which affords a rather 

 remarkable contrast to the brilliant hues of blue and green which decorate the majority of 

 these birds. It is a native of many parts of the Old World, being spread over various portions 

 of Asia and Africa. , 



The common Kingfisher is by far the most gorgeously decorated of all our indigenous 

 birds, and can bear comparison with many of the gaily decorated inhabitants of tropical climates. 



It is a sufficiently common bird, although distributed very thinly over the whole country, 

 and considering the great number of eggs which it lays, and the large proportion of young 

 which it rears, is probably more plentiful than is generally supposed to be the case. The 

 straight, glancing flight of the Kingfisher, as it shoots along the river-bank, its azure back 

 gleaming in the sunlight with meteoric splendor, is a sight familiar to all those who have beea 



