208 THE BELTED KINGFISHER. 



have met with it from within the Texas to the shores of Labrador. I have 

 also seen it on the higher and sandy Keys of the Floridas, where, however, 

 I am not sure that it breeds. I have seen this bird fishing in salt water in a 

 great number of instances. It is extremely hardy, and those individuals, 

 which migrate northward to breed, seldom return towards our Southern 

 States, where they spend the winter, until absolutely forced to do so by the 

 great severity of the weather. The eggs measure l£ inches in length, by 1 

 inch in breadth, and are thus of a roundish form. Dr. Brewer of Boston 

 informs me, that it abounds on the borders of all the ponds and rivers in 



Massachusetts, and that he found a nest containing two eggs on a hard gravel 



Ige 



J 5 

 bank, on the borders of Charles river, Cambridge. 



Belted Kingfisher, Alcedo Alcyon, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 59. 



Alcedo Alcyon, Bonap. Syn., p. 48. 



Alcedo Alcyon, Belted Kingfisher, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 339. 



Belted Kingfisher, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 594. 



Belted Kingfisher, Alcedo Alcyon, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 394; vol. v. p. 548. 



Male, \2\, 20. 



Breeds from Texas all over the United States, to the Fur Countries, 

 Missouri, Rocky Mountains, and Columbia river. Common. Resident. 



Adult Male. 



Bill long, straight, tetragonal, tapering to an acute point, compressed 

 towards the end; upper mandible keeled, with the dorsal line straight, the 

 edges overlapping; lower mandible with the dorsal line slightly convex, the 

 tip ascending; gap-line extending to beneath the eyes. Nostrils basal, 

 dorsal, oblong, oblique, half-closed by a bare membrane. Head large, neck 

 short, body robust. Feet very short; tarsus roundish, anteriorly scutellate, 

 half the length of the middle toe; outer and middle toes nearly equal, inner 

 much shorter, hind toe small; claws rather strong, arched, acute, channelled 

 beneath. 



Plumage compact. Feathers of the head long, narrow, rather loose, 

 pointed, and erectile, in the form of a longitudinal crest, of which the 

 anterior feathers are longest. Wings longish, the third primary longest. 

 Tail short, even, of twelve broad rounded feathers. 



Bill brownish-black, light greenish-blue at the base. Iris hazel. Feet 

 greyish-blue; claws black. Head, cheeks, hind neck and upper parts gene- 

 rally light blue, the shaft of each feather blackish. A white spot before the 

 eye, and a slight streak of the same colour on the under eyelid. Quills 

 brownish-black, the base of the primaries barred with white, the secondaries 

 blue on the outer web. Two middle tail-feathers blue, as are the outer edges 



