The Belted Kingfisher 
75 
Kingfishers to occupy the same territory. If we seek to approach this 
king of fishermen he permits us to get within a certain distance, usually 
a long gun-shot off, when his alarm, or what seems distaste for human 
companionship, becomes so great that he leaves his post of observation 
with a loud and unmistakable rattling cry, flies a few hundred yards up 
the stream and alights. Again we try to approach, but the bird is more 
suspicious than before, and soon takes another flight. 
This will be repeated until the Kingfisher thinks he is Unsocial 
getting too far away from his home, when, sweeping lsposi ion 
wide, he will circle past us, and, with repeated rattling cries, as if in 
derision at our futile attempts to catch him, will return to his favorite 
outlook. 
The Belted Kingfisher is found throughout North America, but is 
nowhere very common. The explanation of its apparent churlishness is 
probably to be found in the nature of the Kingfisher’s food and its manner 
of getting it. The fishing along most streams is limited, or seems so, 
one may suppose, to the bird, and it becomes jealous of intruders because 
every one is, or may be, a rival. Therefore it seeks to find an unoccupied 
piece of water and then to keep exclusive possession of it as a means 
of food-supply for itself, its mate and their family. Were not this strug- 
gle and competition made necessary by the nature and relative scarcity 
of their food, Belted Kingfisher, r would doubtless be not only as numerous 
but as sociable as sparrows and blackbirds, whose fare is so plentiful in 
every marsh, meadow, and thicket that no bird fears it will not get its 
share. 
One of the singular features of this peculiar bird is its method of 
home-making. It does not build a nest in a tree nor on the ground, 
but excavates a hole in an earthen bank, usually, but not always, near 
some stream or body of water. 
Major Bendire says, in his “Life Histories of North American Birds”: 
“In southern Arizona, where streams are few, I have found Kingfishers 
breeding in localities where fish formed a very small percentage of 
their daily fare ; I have more than once seen one of these birds perched 
on some twig overhanging a dry, sandy river-bed, where no water was 
to be found within several miles.” 
The situation of the burrow is probably determined largely by the 
character of the soil, the favorite kind being compact 
sand, or mixed gravel and loam. The male and female 
birds join in the labor of digging, which is done by 
means of their large and powerful bills, and then the loosened soil is 
thrown backward and scraped out by their feet. 
The tunnel is round, about four inches in diameter, and extends 
inward to a depth varying with circumstances from four to twenty 
feet. The bore may be perfectly straight in soft soil, free from stones 
or tree-roots ; but often the tunnel winds about to avoid such obstructions. 
It ends interiorly in a "living-room” large enough to accommodate com- 
fortably its occupant— a bird twelve inches long. 
Nesting 
Burrow 
