AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
277 
to swallow this enormous quantity of nourishment, and is 
then immediately shut up in its cage. The immediate 
result of this kind of life is a remarkable obesity, and an 
enormous development of the liver, which, without any 
notable change of structure, acquired a triple or quadru- 
ple enlargement of volume. Bibulous paper brought into 
close contact with this fat liver, immediately absorbs an 
oily matter, much like melted fat. These livers some- 
times weigh eight or ten ounces, and sell at from three to 
five francs. The fattening of geese in this manner is a 
good speculation, for every part of the animal possesses 
an intrinsic value; the fat on many occasions is a substi- 
tute for butter, and the flesh is served at table, and although 
somewhat tough, is not the less nutritious; the feathers 
are much sought after, the quills serve for writing, and 
even the excrements sell at a high price as one of the 
richest of manures. — lb. 
BELTED KINGSFISHER. 
ALCEDO ALCYON. 
[Plate XXIV. Vol. 2.] 
Bartram, p. 2S9. — Turton, p. 278 . — ■ Jllcedo Mcyon , 
Linn. Syst. cd. 10, vol. i. 115. — Gmel. Syst. i. 451. — 
Latii. Ind. Orn. 257. — Catesby, i. 60 . — Buef. PL 
Enl. 593 — 715. — J. Doughty’s Collection. 
This is a general inhabitant of the banks and shores 
of all our fresh-water rivers, from Hudson’s Bay to Mexi- 
co; and is the only species of its tribe found within the 
United States. This last circumstance, and its character- 
istic appearance, make it as universally known here, as 
its elegant little brother, the common Kingsfisher of Eu- 
rope, is in Britain. Like the love-lorn swains, of whom 
poets tell us, he delights in murmuring streams and fall- 
ing waters; not, however, merely that they may soothe 
his ear, but for a gratification more substantial. Amidst 
the roar of the cataract, or over the foam of a torrent, he 
sits perched upon an overhanging bough, glancing his 
piercing eye in every direction below for his scaly prey, 
which, with a sudden circular plunge, he sweeps from 
their native element, and swallows in an instant. His 
voice, which is not unlike the twirling of a watchman’s 
rattle, is naturally loud, harsh, and sudden; but is soften- 
ed by the sound of the brawling streams and cascades 
among which he generally rambles. He courses along the 
windings of the brook or river, at a small height above 
Z z z 
the surface, sometimes suspending himself by the rapid 
action of his wings, like certain species of hawks, ready 
to pounce on the fry below; now and then settling on an 
old dead overhanging limb to reconnoitre. Mill-dams 
are particularly visited by this feathered fisher; and the 
sound of his pipe is as well known to the miller as the 
rattling of his own hopper. Rapid streams, with high 
perpendicular banks, particularly if they be of a hard 
clayey or sandy nature, are also favourite places of resort 
for this bird; not only because in such places the small 
fish are more exposed to view, but because those steep and 
dry banks are the chosen situations for his nest. Into 
these he digs with bill and claws, horizontally, sometimes 
to the extent of four or five feet, at the distance of a foot 
or two from the surface. The few materials he takes in are 
not always placed at the extremity of the hole, that he and 
his mate may have room to turn with convenience. The 
eggs are five, pure white, and the first brood usually comes 
out about the beginning of June, and sometimes sooner, 
according to that part of the country where they reside. 
On the shores of Kentucky river, near the town of Frank- 
fort, I found the female sitting early in April. They are 
very tenacious of their haunts, breeding for several suc- 
cessive years in the same hole, and do not readily forsake 
it, even though it be visited. An intelligent young gen- 
tleman informed me, that having found where a Kings- 
fisher built, he took away its eggs, from time to time, 
leaving always one behind, until he had taken no less than 
eighteen from the same nest. At some of these visits, the 
female being within, retired to the extremity of the hole 
while he withdrew the egg, and next day, when he re- 
turned, he found she had laid again as usual. 
The fabulous stories related by the ancients of the nest, 
manner of hatching, &c., of the Kingsfisher, are too trifling 
to be repeated here. Over the winds and the waves the 
humble Kingsfisher of our days, at least, the species now 
before us, has no control. Its nest is neither constructed 
of glue nor fish-bones; but of loose grass and a few feathers. 
It is not thrown on the surface of the water to float about, 
with its proprietor, at random; but snugly secured from 
the winds and the weather in the recesses of the earth; 
neither is its head or its feathers believed, even by the 
most illiterate of our clowns or seamen, to be a charm for 
love, a protection against witchcraft, or a security for fair 
weather. It is neither venerated like those of the So- 
ciety isles, nor dreaded like those of some other countries; 
but is considered merely as a bird that feeds on fish; is 
generally fat; relished by some, as good eating; and is now 
and then seen exposed for sale in our markets. 
Though the Kingsfisher generally remains with us, in 
Pennsylvania, until the commencement of cold weather, 
