THE BELTED KINGFISHER. 



{Ceryle alcyon.) 



Where the river winds through its green retreat, 



Smiling, rejoicing on its way. 

 Whose ripples and rifles every beat 



The old tree-roots and boulders gray; 

 Where o'er the sedges' shallows and sands 



The cat-tail tufts and river reeds, 

 At whose edge the patient angler stands, 



The Kingfisher flies and feeds. 

 Perched on a bending, wither'd spray 



That leans o'er the water's flow, 

 He watches intently for the prey 



That swims in the stream below. 



— Isaac McClellan, "The Kingfisher." 



To the sportsman, the Belted King- 

 fisher, with its bluish gray back, white 

 breast and saucy manners, is a well 

 known bird. Many times we are star- 

 tled, as we are walking meditativeily by 

 the side of some pond or stream by the 

 sharp, metallic cry of this bird, which 

 resembles nothing so much as an old- 

 fashioned watchman's rattle. As we 

 look up hastily from our reverie, we 

 observe Alcyon flying along so near the 

 pond as to almost touch the surface of 

 the water, and at the other side we see 

 it, with a majestic sweep, alight in the 

 top branches of a tree whose branches 

 overhang the water. Startled again, it 

 drops from its perch, seeming to aim 

 straight for the water, but, as before, 

 just skimming the stirface, uttering, as 

 it flies along, its peculiar, long, rattle- 

 like cry. While in the presence of the 

 Kingfisher we cannot but appreciate the 

 Hues of Mr. Frank BoUes: 



Hark! What sound disturbs the stillness 

 Of forest, of the meadow? 

 Harsh the notes, a wild alarum, 

 Waking echoes from the ledges. 

 Mocking laughter from the hemlocks. 

 Hark! It nearer comes and rattles, 

 Like the hail upon the grape leaves, 

 Like cold rain upon the cornfield. 



In the latter part of March he makes 

 his appearance and he is one of the first 

 birds to announce that spring is at 

 hand. To the true lover of nature, the 

 lakes and streams would not be com- 

 plete without the presence of this noisy, 

 bright colored and cheerful fisherman. 



The Kingfisher family includes a 

 number of species, those of the Malay 

 Archipelago being the most numerous, 

 but onily three species live in the United 

 States. The one under discussion is 



the best known and is the most widely 

 distributed, being found from the Arc- 

 tic regions to Panama and the West 

 Indies, thus occupying the whole of 

 North America. It winters in the 

 southern parts of its range and appears 

 in the northern part of the United 

 States from the last of March to early 

 in April. It has been seen in the New 

 England States in winter, however. It 

 receives its name of Belted Kingfisher 

 from the broad band of blue, spotted 

 with white, which marks the upper part 

 of the breast of the male. Our illus- 

 tration is that of a female, which has 

 a band of chestnut instead of blue. 



The nest of the Belted Kingfisher is 

 m'ade by excavating a long, winding 

 hole in a sand-bank, which sometimes 

 reaches a length of eight feet, four to 

 six feet being the usual length. The 

 hole at the opening in the bank is about 

 three inches in diameter and this grad- 

 ually increases to the end where the 

 nest is made. This is composed of 

 feathers, grass, leaves and other mate- 

 rial of this kind. Frequently the nest is 

 made in a hollow tree, presumably by a 

 pair of birds which are too lazy to dig 

 a nest in a bank, or, we would rather 

 believe, because no sand-bank is near 

 the water. 



The birds pair soon after their arrival 

 in migration, nest making and egg- lay- 

 ing following quickly. Five or six eggs 

 one and a quarter inches in diameter, 

 of a dlear white color and an oval or 

 spherical shape are laid. Incubation 

 occupies about sixteen days. The young 

 generally remain in the nest until they 

 are fledged. It is a curious fact that 



