20 



BELTED KINGFISHER— BLACK-CAP HAWK. 



through numberless labyrinths, and only flush when he is just at 

 the point of seizing them. 



The male and female Clapper Rails are colored nearly alike ; but 

 the young birds in the first year differ somewhat from them in color. 

 The upper parts of these young birds are of a brownish olive 

 streaked with a pale slate color ; the wings are of a pale brown 

 olive ; the chin and throat, white ; the breast, pale ash colored, 

 and tinged with yellowish brown ; the legs and feet are of a light 

 horn color. These birds are never found at a great distance from 

 the lakes or large rivers in the interior part of the country ; on the 

 lakes they are frequently found, but never in great numbers. The 

 Clapper Rail feeds chiefly on small shelled fish, especially on those 

 of that form of snail found so abundant in the marshes ; but he 

 also eats worms, which he digs out of the mud, and for which work 

 his bill is wonderfully adjusted. He also feeds on small crabs. 



In the month of October, Clapper Rails migrate to the South, 

 never in flocks, but singly or in pairs, flying high up in the air. 

 None of them remain North during the winter, though one of 

 them was killed in the Reservoir, about thirty-three miles north- 

 east from Columbus, Ohio, in the latter part of November; but on 

 a close inspection, it was found that the bird had been crippled. 



The Belted Kingfisher. ( Ceryle alcyon.) 



Fig. 2. 



The Belted Kingfisher is an inhabitant of the shores and banks 

 of alt our fresh-water rivers from Hudson's Bay to Mexico. He 

 seems to love running streams and falling waters, like the whole 

 of his tribe. At such places, resting on an overhanging bough 

 above a cataract, he will remain for hours, glancing around with 

 piercing eyes in all directions, seeking to discern in the water be- 

 low small minnows, which, as soon as seen, with a sudden circular 

 plunge, executed with the velocity of an arrow shot from the bow, 

 he sweeps from their element and swallows in an instant. The 

 voice of the Belted Kingfisher resembles the sound of a child's 

 rattle; it is sudden, harsh, and very loud, but in a certain degree 

 softened by the murmuring of the brooks, or the sound of the cas- 

 cades or brawling streams, among which he generally rambles. 

 He courses up and down the stream, along its different windings, 

 at no great height above the water, sometimes poising himself by 

 the rapid action of his wings, in the manner of some of the Hawk 

 tribe, in order to pounce down into the water on some small fish, 

 which he frequently misses. After such a miss he usually settles, 

 with a dissatisfied look, on an old dead overhanging limb of a tree 

 to shake off the water from his plumage and to reconnoiter again. 

 Mill-dams are frequented by him, as the neighborhood usually 

 abounds with small fish. Rapid flowing streams, with steep high 

 banks of a clayey or gravelly nature, are also his favorite places 

 of resort, as on such steep and dry banks he usually digs a hole 

 for his nest. This hole ne digs with his bill and claws, extending 

 it horizontally, sometimes to four or even six feet, and about half a 

 yard below the surface, with a small cavity at the bottom for the 

 nest. This is composed of a few fibers, a few dried fish-bones, and 

 a little dry grass. The female lays five pure white eggs, compar- 

 atively of rather a large size. The young are hatched about the 

 beginning of June ; but the time differs according to the climate 

 of the country where the breeding takes place. In the southern 

 parts of the United States, the female Kingfisher has been found 

 sitting on her eggs as early as the beginning of April, while in 

 Ohio the Kingfishers' nests, with the birds sitting on the eggs, are 

 not usually found till toward the end of May. They occupy the 

 , ;s UQk. iQt several years as a breeding-place, and will not readily 

 ~&&k& % evea though it should be visited. There are accounts 

 of people taking away the eggs of a Kingfisher, leaving one in the 

 nest, and repeating this till they had collected twelve, or even 

 eighteen eggs, the female always laying regularly one egg every 



day. Such accounts being doubted, an experiment was made, b> 

 taking from a nest-hole in the steep bank of the Connecticut river, 

 a little below Middletown, Connecticut, the second egg laid; but 

 instead of laying another egg, the birds abandoned the nest alto- 

 gether. A similar experiment was tried in Ohio, with a like 

 result. 



In the Eastern and Western States, the Kingfisher generallv re- 

 mains until the commencement of the cold season, when he leaves 

 for warmer regions, though he is occasionally seen in the North- 

 ern States in the middle of winter. He is found in the Southern 

 States during nearly the whole winter. The Belted Kingfisher is 

 like all the rest of the Kingfisher tribe, not much inclined to society, 

 but is generally seen singly or in pairs, or in small groups of three 

 or four. When crossing from one brook or river to another, or 

 from one lake to another, which the Kingfisher frequently does, he 

 passes over cities or forests in a bee-line, not unfrequently for a 

 distance of ten or twenty miles. At such times his motions consist 

 of five or six flaps, followed by a glide without making any undu- 

 lations like the Woodpecker. In May, 1850, on a little creek in 

 Connecticut, called the Hockanum, a Belted Kingfisher was ob- 

 served on the ground, flapping his wings and seemingly in great 

 distress. On coming up to him the observer found that his bill was 

 stuck fast in a large clam. He had probably seen the clam on the 

 muddy bank of the creek, with the shell partly open, and, in the 

 attempt, to pull the clam out, the shell had closed upon his bill. 

 The passer-by of course liberated the poor bird, which kind act he 

 acknowledged by biting his benefactor on the thumb, and by 

 springing his rattle at him most indignantly as he flew away. 



PLATE XX. 



The Ash-colored op Black-cap Hawk. {Astur atricapillus.) 



This beautiful Hawk has been confounded by many Ornitholo- 

 gists with the Goose Hawk of Europe ; but there is such a differ- 

 ence between them that it is really wonderful how the two birds 

 could be supposed to be identical. The greatest difference between 

 these birds is in the markings of their breast and under parts, and 

 this difference is so distinct as at once to strike the beholder. On our 

 Hawk the under parts are of a uniform pale grayish white, each 

 feather having in the center a black streak ; this extends to the 

 feathers in the center of the belly, after which the streak is hardly 

 any more visible: besides this, every feather is marked trans- 

 versely with fine, irregular zigzag bars of dark gray. In the 

 European bird, each feather on the breast and lower parts is 

 marked with a dark shaft, not exceeding its own breadth, and has 

 besides two decided transverse bars, giving the bird, at a first glance, 

 a very different aspect from the American Hawk. The upper 

 parts of the latter are of a blue shade, and the markings of the 

 head are darker and more decided. Some Ornithologists have 

 classed this Hawk with the genus Astur, while others make it a 

 sub-genus of Accipiter, in which the Sparrow Hawk and lesser 

 species have been placed. Although there is some difference in 

 the formation of the tarsi, the habits and forms are in general nearly 

 similar. The Broad-winged Hawk (Astur Pennsylvanicus) is an 

 example of the one, and our Hawk that of the other. 



The Black-capped Hawk is very spirited, and his general form 

 and aspect denote great strength ; his legs are very strong, and his 

 claws rather large in proportion, the claws of the inner toes being 

 as large as those of the great toe ; his wings are short and rounded, 

 showing, when expanded, a considerable inner surface, very favor- 

 able to a smooth sailing flight, which is greatly aided by the 

 lengthened tail. His favorite abodes are forests or well- wooded 

 countries, where he can be seen hunting his prey about the skirts 

 of the woods. In such places he builds his nest, usually on a high 



