THE BELTED KmGFISHEE. 37 



skins of the fruit. I have saved some of these pellets as well as those composed 

 of fish bones and scales." ^ 



The first migrants to return from their winter quarters appear in the Middle 

 States generally about the second week in March, and sometimes a week or so 

 later, according to the season, and in higher latitudes considerably later and not 

 until after the ice commences to break up. In our Southern States nidification 

 commences usually in April; in the Northern ones, rarely before the first week in 

 May, and in arctic North America and northern Alaska, seldom earlier than the 

 latter half of June. Mr. Charles H. Townsend, of the United States Fish Com- 

 mission, yi 1885 found these birds common and breeding on the shores of the 

 Kowack River, near Kotzebuo Sound, Alaska, and within the Arctic Circle, the 

 most northern breeding record known to me. The return migration from their 

 breeding grounds in our Northern States sometimes begins about the latter 

 part of September, and in mild falls not before the middle of October, and occa- 

 sionally still later, they remaining iintil the streams become covered with ice. 



The favorite nesting sites of the Kingfisher are perpendicular clay or rea- 

 sonably compact sand banks, occasionally mixed more or less with gravel; also 

 railroad cuts. These banks or bluff's usually abut directly on water. A nearly 

 circular burrow or tunnel is dug into these, averaging about 4 inches in diameter. 

 They are excavated by the birds; the entrance hole is usually from 2' to 3 feet 

 below the top of the bank, but sometimes fully 20 feet from the top. The bur- 

 rows vary in length from 4 to 15 feet, according to the nature of the soil, and 

 sometimes run in perfectly straight for the entire distance ; again they diverge 

 at different angles, at various distances from the entrance. The nesting cham- 

 ber is dome-shaped, usually from 8 to 10 inches in diameter, and always at a 

 slightly higher level than the entrance hole. The time required to dig out a 

 burrow depends largely on the nature of the soil to be removed, taking some- 

 times two or three weeks, but generally much less. I have personally seen an 

 instance where a pair of these birds excavated a new burrow in a rather friable 

 clay bank near Fort Lapwai, Idaho, to a depth of 6 feet (estimated measure- 

 ment) in a little over three days. How they manage to dig so rapidly, consid- 

 ering their short and weak-looking feet, with which they must remove the greater 

 part of the material, has always been a mystery to me, and I Avould not believe 

 them capable of accomplishing such an amount of work had I not seen it done. 

 When not disturbed the same nesting site is resorted to from year to year. Some- 

 times the male burrows an additional hole near the occupied nesting site, usually 

 not over 3 feet deep, to which it retires to feed and to pass the night. 



Dr. William L. Ralph informs me that he has found them occupying the old 

 burrows of Rough-winged Swallows, Stelgidopteryx serripennis. 



Dr. A. K. Fisher has kindly furnished me the following notes on the nesting 

 habits of this species as observed by him: "On June 6, 1882, the writer found 

 two nests of the Kingfisher in the side of a railroad cut near Croton Lake, 

 Westchester County, New York. The burrows were placed in a bank not over 



1 Bulletin Nuttall Oruithologioal Club, Vol. Ill, 1878, p. 92. 



