DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED 315 



bill and queer toes with their shovel-shaped nails, two 

 of which have-become united half their length through 

 constant service of this sort. His method of starting the 

 hole is similar to that of the bank swallow. Hovering 

 in front of the bank, he 

 strikes again and again 

 as a hummingbird drives 

 his bill into a flower tube, 

 until a small break has 

 been made in the clay or 

 sand of the bank. This 

 is enlarged with bill and 

 claws until he gradually 

 disappears in it, only a 

 shower of sand occasion- 

 ally testifying to his prog- 

 ress. As in the case of 

 the flickers, both male 

 and female work at the exca- 

 vating, changing about e\ery 

 twenty minutes. The one who 

 has been resting returns to a 

 perch near by, uttering the 

 characteristic cry, — this time 



not expressing anger, — and almost instantly the mate 

 leaves the hole and flies off" to his or her fishing, 

 taking no notice of the relief guard, who promptly 

 enters the burrow and resumes work. "When the 

 nest is completed and the first one of the six or seven 

 white eggs has been laid, the mother bird broods con- 



390. Belted Kingfisher. 

 " He strikes again and again.''^ 



