2 
The Belted Kingfisher 
first. Sometimes before the bird reaches the surface of the water the fish 
has disappeared or is out of reach, when the Kingfisher changes its course 
and with an upward sweep resumes its former position. Again, during a 
flight over the stream the keen eye of the Kingfisher discovers a fish, when 
it will stop suddenly in its course and hover with extended wings over the 
spot for a few seconds, when it will dive with the same ease and accuracy 
as it did from the limb. 
Kingfishers are not sociable with their own kind, nor with the human 
race. A pair will preempt a locality, and no other Kingfishers are permitted 
to occupy the same territory. If we seek to approach this king of fisher- 
men he permits us to get within a certain distance, usually a long gun-shot 
off, when his distaste for human companionship becomes so great that. 
KINGFISHERS TWO DAYS OLD 
Photographed by H. L. Baily 
with a loud, rattling cry, he leaves his post of observation and flies a few 
hundred yards up stream and alights. Again we try to approach, but the 
bird is even more suspicious than before, and soon takes another flight over 
the stream. This is repeated until the Kingfisher thinks he is getting too 
far away from his home, when, sweeping wide, he will circle past us and 
with loud, rattling cries, seemingly in derision at our futile attempts to catch 
him, will return to his favorite outlook to resume his finny quest. 
The Belted Kingfisher is found throughout North America, but is no- 
where very common, owing to its solitary and unsociable disposition. During 
the breeding season its range extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the 
Arctic Sea and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. When the ice 
closes the waters of the north the Kingfishers move southward, and their 
winter range is from the West Indies and northern South America to the 
Canadian border of the United States. Open water and a food supply are 
the factors that determine their winter quarters. 
