KINGFISHER. 389 



SuB-OEDER Cdculi. Cuculiform Birds. 



FAMILY ALCEDINIDiE. KINGFISHERS. 



Secondaries more than six. Feet syndactyle by connectioD of outei and middle toes. 

 Oater toe much longer than inner, nnited for half its length with the middle, form- 

 ing a broad sole. Tibise naked below. Bill longer than head, straight, acate, with hard 

 cutting edges and ample rictus. Tongue rudimentary, fixed Wings pointed, much 

 longer than the short square tail. Tail feathers twelve. Plumage compact, oily. 



Ceeyle alcyon (L.) Boie. 



Belted I^insB-sixer. 



Alcedo aleyoH, Wilson, Am. Orn., iii, 1811, 59. — Kirtland, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 162. 

 —Bead, Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Soi., vi, 1853, 395. 



Ceryle alcyon, Kirkpatkick, Ohio Parmer, ix, 1860, 243.— Whbaton, Ohio Agrio. Rep. 

 for 1860, 1861, 362 ; Reprint, 4 ; Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 1875, 

 569; Reprint, 9.— March, Am. Nat, ii, 1868, 490.— Lansdon, Cat. Birds of Gin., 

 1377, 10; Revised List, Journ. Gin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 177; Reprint, 11; Sum- 

 mer Birds, iii, 1880, 225. 



Kingfisher, BAiiou, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 225. 



Alcedo dloyan, LiNir.«;u8, Syst. Nat., i, 1766, TSO. 

 Ceryle alcyon, Bom, leia, 1828, 316. 



Upper parts, broad pectoral bar, and sides under wings, dull blue with fine black 

 shaft lines ; lower eyelid, spot before eye, a cervical collar and under parts, except as 

 said, pare white ; the female with a chestnut belly band, and the sides of the same color, 

 quills and tail feathers black, speckled, blotched and barred with white on the inner 

 webs; outer webs ot the secondaries and tail feathers like the back; wiag-coverts fre- 

 quently sprinkled with white ; bill black, pale at the base below; feet dark. Length, 

 12 or more ; wing about 6 ; tail, 3^ ; whole foot, 1 J ; bill about 2^. 



Habitat, North and Middle America and many of the West India Islands. 



Abundant. Resident in Southern Ohio, and retiring from Middle 

 and Northern Ohio, only when the streams and ponds are covered with 

 ice. In this vicinity Kingfishers usually arrive during the month of 

 February and remain until December. Their food consisting exclusively 

 of fish, they are seldom seen except in the immediate vicinity of water. 

 They prefer for feeding places the rapid shallows of streams. Here they 

 may be seen in pairs flying up and down the stream or hovering over a 

 spot where they expect to secure their prey. The lower branches of a 

 tree overhanging the water, or the top of a dead stub, furnish a favorite 

 lookout, from which they plunge beneath the surface of the water. A fish 

 secured, they fly off quickly to a secure spot to swallow their captive. 

 Their note is a loud, coarse rattle, frequently repeated. 



The nest of the Kingfisher is an excavation in the face of a high bank 

 of a stream or side of an artificial excavation. The entrance is usually 



