KDfGFISHERS. 317 



d. Their only note is a chirp, which immediately suggests 

 the voice of an inseor. 



Xo birds are more generally beloved and admired than our 

 Hummingbirds, and America may well boast of a treasure 

 which no other country possesses. 



J 23. ALCEDINID^. Kin^^ers. (See § 22.) 



I. CERTIiE. 



A. AiXTOX. Belted iinj^-^/.en JSlngfisAer. A resi- 

 dent of Xew Kngland in snmmer. and occasionally in winter.* 



o. About l-\ inches long. Upper parts, sides, and a 

 breast-band, ashy blue. Head-featheis, darker, forming a 

 loose crest, and giving a rou^ outline to the hind-head. 

 Wings and tail also partly darker, and white-spotted. Broad 

 collar (intermpted behind\ lower breast, etc. white. The 

 latter in O witb a band (often imperfeot") of a chestnut 

 cdor, which extends along the sides, and sometimes mixes 

 with the band above.^^ 



b. From the abundant evidence recently offered on the 

 subject of the nest, and from my own limited experience, it 

 may be gathered that it varies in length . though sometimes 

 nine feet long, that it may be either straight or have a bend, 

 and that it is rarely lined at the end, except with lish-bones. 

 as is sometimes the case. That the Engfishers always make 

 a burrow in a bank of sand or gravel, in which to lay their 

 eggs, and that they most often do so near water, and not far 

 from the ground, are undisputed facts. The eggs of each set 

 are six or seven, average l.oo X 1.05 of an inch, and are 

 pure white. 



c. The Belted Kingfisher is well known, and •■ in the sum- 

 mer is found in every portion of Xorth America, to the Arc- 

 tic Ocean on the north, and from the Atlanrie to the Pacific' " ^' 



* A. eomiuoii smumer resadait ^* *" Srveial specimens in rhe Smrrh- 



dixoagboat Xev Tjnqlan.^ hreedmg soman coUeerion marked female (per- 



neady eTerrrrheie, bat mct^ namer- baps erraneoBslT) sho^ no indication 



oqsIt about ^le bordecs q£ lakes and of the eb^^tn^t.** 



streams in ^le mope n.^rtlieri: rir^ of ^'" Mr^srs. Baird. Brev^r. andRid^- 



ibeeoamrr. Xtocc^<H]allTp:~issesdie w^y's Aorti -Jjiflrf-'i:-^ Btnij. 

 vinter in somhem Xev Ei^land. — 

 W.B. 



