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the belted kingfisher. 
forests, not unfrequently by a course of twenty or thirty miles towards the 
interior of the country. Its motions when on wing consist of a series of 
flaps, about five or six in number, followed by a direct glide, without any 
apparent undulation. It moves in the same way when flying closely over 
the water. 
If, in the course of such excursions, the bird passes over a small pool, it 
suddenly checks itself in its career, poises itself in the air, like a Sparrow 
Hawk or Kestril, and inspects the water beneath, to discover whether there 
may be fishes in it suitable to its taste. Should it find this to be the case, it 
continues poised for a few seconds, dashes spirally headlong into the water, 
seizes a fish, and alights on the nearest tree or stump, where it swallows its 
prey in a moment. 
The more usual range of the Belted Kingfisher, however, is confined to 
the rivers and creeks that abound throughout the United States ; all of 
which, according to the seasons, are amply supplied with various fishes, on 
the fry of which this bird feeds. It follows their course up to the very 
source of the small rivulets ; and it is not unusual to hear the hard, rapid, 
rattling notes of our Kingfisher, even amongst the murmuring cascades of 
our higher mountains. When the bird is found in such sequestered situa- 
tions, well may the angler be assured that trout is abundant. Mill-ponds 
are also favourite resorts of the Kingfisher, the usual calmness of the water 
in such places permitting it to discover its prey with ease. As the freshets 
are proportionally less felt on the adjoining shores, the holes dug in the 
earth or sand by this species, in which it deposits its eggs, are generally 
found in places not far from a mill worked by water. 
I have laid open to my view several of these holes, in different situations 
and soils, and have generally found them to be formed as follows. The male 
and female, after having fixed upon a proper spot, are seen clinging to the 
bank of the stream in the manner of Woodpeckers. Their long and stout 
bills are set to work, and as soon as the hole has acquired a certain depth, 
one of the birds enters it, and scratches out the sand, earth or clay, with its 
feet, striking meanwhile with its bill to extend the depth. The other bird 
all the while appears to cheer the labourer, and urge it to continue its 
exertions ; and, when the latter is fatigued, takes its place. Thus, by the 
co-operation of both, the hole is dug to the depth of four, five, or sometimes 
six feet, in an horizontal direction, at times not more than eighteen inches 
below the surface of the ground, at others eight or ten feet. At the Chicasaw 
Bluffs, on the Mississippi, I have seen some of these holes more than fifty 
feet below the surface, but generally beyond reach of the highest freshets. 
The hole is just large enough to admit the passage of a single bird at a time. 
The end is rounded and finished in the form of a common oven, to allow the 
