396 BELTED KINGSFISHER. 



sand, earth or clay, with its feet, striking meanwhile with its bill to ex- 

 tend the depth. • The other bird all the while appears to cheer the la- 

 bourer, and urge it to continue its exertions ; and, when the latter is fa- 

 tigued, takes its place. Thus, by the co-operation of both, the hole is 

 dug to the depth of four, five, or sometimes six feet, in a horizontal di- 

 rection, at times not more than eighteen inches below the surface of the 

 ground, at others eight or ten feet. At the Chicasaw Bluffs, on the Mis^ 

 sissippi, I have seen some of these holes more than fifty feet below the 

 surface, but generally beyond reach of the highest freshets. The hole is 

 just large enough to admit the passage of a single bird at a time. The 

 end is rounded and finished in the form of a common oven, to allow the 

 pair or the whole brood to turn round in it at ease. Here, on a few 

 sticks and feathers, the eggs are deposited to the number generally of six. 

 They are pure white. Incubation continues for sixteen days. In the 

 Middle States, these birds seldom raise more than one brood in the year, 

 but in the southern usually two. Incubation is performed by both pa- 

 rents, which evince great sohcitude for the safety of their young. The 

 mother sometimes drops on the water, as if severely wounded, and flut- 

 ters and flounders as if unable to rise from the stream, in order to induce 

 the intruder to wade or swim after her, whilst her mate, perched on the 

 nearest bough, or even on the edge of the bank, jerks his tail, erects his 

 crest, rattles his notes with angry vehemence, and then springing off^, 

 passes and repasses before the enemy, with a continued cry of despair. 



I have not been able to ascertain whether or not the young are fed 

 with macerated food disgorged by the parents into their bills, but I have 

 reason to think so, and I have always observed the old ones to swallow 

 the fishes which they had caught, before they entered the hole. The 

 young are, however, afterwards fed directly on the entire fish ; and I 

 have frequently seen them follow the parent birds, and alight on the 

 same branch, flapping their wings, and calling with open bill for the food 

 just taken out of the water, when the petition was seldom denied. 



The Kingsfisher resorts to the same hole, to breed and roost, for 

 many years in succession. On one occasion, when I attempted two even- 

 ings to seize one of these birds, long after night had closed, I tried in 

 vain the first time. I fitted a small net bag to the entrance, and return- 

 ed home. Next morning the bird had scratched a passage under the 

 net, and thus escaped. The following evening I saw it enter the hole, 

 and having procured a stick that filled the entrance for upwards of a 



