THE BELTED KINGFISHER. 9Q7 



pair or the whole brood to turn round in it at ease. Here, on a few sticks 

 and feathers, the eggs are deposited to the number generally of six. They 

 are pure white. Incubation continues for sixteen days. In the Middle 

 States, these birds seldom raise more than one brood in the year, but in the 

 southern usually two. Incubation is performed by both parents, which 

 evince great solicitude for the safety of their young. The mother some- 

 times drops on the water, as if severely wounded, and flutters and flounders 

 as if unable to rise from the stream, in order to induce the intruder to wade 

 or swim after her, whilst her mate, perched on the nearest bough, or even 

 on the edge of the bank, jerks his tail, erects his crest, rattles his notes with 

 angry vehemence, and then springing off, passes and repasses before the 

 enemy, with a continued cry of despair. 



I have not been able to ascertain whether or not the young are fed with 

 macerated food disgorged by the parents into their bills, but I have reason to 

 think so, and I have always observed the old ones to swallow the fishes 

 which they had caught, before they entered the hole. The young are, how- 

 ever, afterwards fed directly on the entire fish; and I have frequently seen 

 them follow the parent birds, and alight on the same branch, flapping their 

 wings, and calling with open bill for the food just taken out of the water, 

 when the petition was seldom denied. 



The Kingfisher resorts to the same hole, to breed and roost, for many 

 years in succession. On one occasion, when I attempted to secure one of 

 these birds, long after night had closed, I tried in vain. The first time I 

 fitted a small net bag to the entrance, and returned home. Next morning 

 the bird had scratched a passage under the net, and thus escaped. The fol- 

 lowing evening I saw it enter the hole, and having procured a stick that 

 filled the entrance for upwards of a foot, I felt certain of obtaining it; but 

 before I reached the place next day, it had worked its way out. After this, 

 I abandoned my attempt, although the bird continued to repose in the same 

 hole. 



No superstitious notions exist in the United States respecting this species. 

 The flesh is extremely fishy, oily, and disagreeable to the taste. On the 

 contrary, the eggs are fine eating. 



I was ready to put my pen aside, kind reader, when, on consulting my 

 journals, all of which are now at hand, I happened to read, that I have seen 

 instances of this bird's plunging into the sea after small fry, at Powles Hook, 

 in the bay opposite to the city of New York. I am not aware that this is a 

 common occurrence. 



Mr. Townsend found this species on the Missouri, the Rocky Mountains, 

 and the Columbia river. Dr. Richardson informs us that it frequents all 

 the large rivers in the Fur Countries up to the 67th degree of latitude, and I 



