348 BRITISH BIRDS. 



CERYLE ALCYON.^ 



BELTED KINGFISHER. 



(Plate 18.) 



lapida carolinensis cristata, Brias. Orn. iv. p. 512 (1760). 



Alcedo alcyon, Linn. Syst Nat. i. p. 180 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum — 



Wilson, Audubon, Brewer, (Sharpe), {Newton'), &c. 

 Ispida ludoviciana, Qmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 452 (1788). 

 Alcedo jaguacate, Dumont, Diet. Sci. Nat. i. p. 455 (1816). 

 Alcedo guacu, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xix. p. 406 (1818). 

 Ceryle alcyon (Zinn,), Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 316. 

 Ispida alcyon {Linn.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 336 (1837). 

 Megaceryle domingensis, Reich. Handh. Alced. p. 25, t. ccccx. fig. 3105 (1851). 

 Megaoeryle alcyon {Linn), Reich. Handb. Alced. p. 25, t. ccccxii. figs. 3108-9 



(1851). 

 Streptoceryle alcyon {Linn!), Cab. Mm. Heine, ii. p. 151 (1860). 

 Chloroceryle alcyon {Linn), Sclater, Cat. Am. Birds, p. 264 (1862). 



The Belted Kingfisher may fairly claim to be inserted in the list of 

 British birds as an accidental straggler on migration. In the northern 

 portion of its range it is migratory, and is said to be one of the most 

 regular winter visitors to the Bermudas. It is therefore not by any means 

 impossible that birds may occasionally lose their way on migration, and 

 even reach the United Kingdom. Two examples of the Belted Kingfisher 

 have occurred in our islands, both of them in Ireland. The first specimen, 

 said to be a female, was shot at Annsbrook, in the county of Meath, on the 

 26th of October, 1844, by P. A. Smith, Esq. ; and the second example on 

 the banks of a stream connecting Lake Luggela with Lough Dan, in the 

 county of Wicklow, in November of the same year (Thompson, Ann. Nat. 

 Hist. 1845, p. 69). Other examples have been recorded from Ireland, but 

 the evidence is not equally satisfactory. 



The Belted Kingfisher is found throughout the continent of North 

 America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Arctic Ocean to 

 Central America and Trinidad. In the northern portions of its extensive 

 range, where the winters are severe, it is only a summer visitor; but 

 further south it appears to be a resident. It visits the Bermudas in winter 

 and is said to be a resident in some of the West-Indian islands. 



The Belted Kingfisher very closely resembles the Common Kingfisher in 

 its habits ; but the haunts it frequents are somewhat different. It delights 

 to take up its quarters on the banks of swift-flowing streams^ in mangrove- 

 swamps, or near lakes and ponds, especially near mill-dams j and it is 



