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Bird- Lore 



first. Sometimes before the bird reaches the surface of the water the fish 

 has disappeared or is out of reach, when the Kingfisher changes its course 

 and with an upward sweep resumes its former position. Again, during a 

 flight over the stream the keen eye of the Kingfisher discovers a fish, when 

 it will stop suddenly in its course and hover with extended wings over the 

 spot for a few seconds, when it will dive with the same ease and accuracy 

 as it did from the limb. 



Kingfishers are not sociable with their own kind, nor with the human 

 race. A pair will preempt a locality, and no other Kingfishers are permitted 

 to occupy the same territory. If we seek to approach this king of fisher- 

 men he permits us to get within a certain distance, usually a long gun-shot 

 off, when his distaste for human companionship becomes so great that, 



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v-4 # 



KINGFISHERS TWO DAYS OLD 

 Photographed by H. L. Baily 



with a loud, rattling cry, he leaves his post of observation and flies a few 

 hundred yards up stream and alights. Again we try to approach, but the 

 bird is even more suspicious than before, and soon takes another flight over 

 the stream. This is repeated until the Kingfisher thinks he is getting too 

 far away from his home, when, sweeping wide, he will circle past us and 

 with loud, rattling cries, seemingly in derision at our futile attempts to catch 

 him, will return to his favorite outlook to resume his finny quest. 



The Belted Kingfisher is found throughout North America, but is no- 

 where very common, owing to its solitary and unsociable disposition. During 

 the breeding season its range extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the 

 Arctic Sea and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. When the ice 

 closes the waters of the north the Kingfishers move southward, and their 

 winter range is from the West Indies and northern South America to the 

 Canadian border of the United States. Open water and a food supply are 

 the factors that determine their winter quarters. 



