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BELTED KINGSFISHER. 
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 t en seen exposed for sale in our markets. 
Though the Kingsfisher generally remains with us, in 
Pennsylvania, until the commencement of cold weather, it is 
seldom seen here in winter ; but returns to us early in April. 
In North and South Carolina, I observed numbers of these 
birds in the months of February and March. I also frequently 
noticed them on the shores of the Ohio, in February, as high 
up as the mouth of the Muskingum. 
I suspect this bird to be a native of the Bahama Islands, 
as well as of our continent. In passing between these isles 
and the Florida shore, in the month of July, a Kingsfisher 
flew several times round our ship, and afterwards shot off to 
the south. 
The length of this species is twelve inches and a half; extent, 
twenty ; back and whole upper parts, a light bluish slate 
colour ; round the neck is a collar of pure white, which reaches 
before to the chin ; head, large, crested ; the feathers, long 
and narrow, black in the centre, and generally erect ; the 
shafts of all the feathers, except the white plumage, are black ; 
belly and vent, white ; sides under the wings, variegated with 
blue ; round the upper part of the breast passes a band of blue, 
interspersed with some light brown feathers ; before the eye 
is a small spot of white, and another immediately below it ; 
the bill is three inches long from the point to the slit of the 
mouth, strong, sharp-pointed, and black, except near the base 
of the lower mandible, and at the tip, where it is of a horn 
colour ; primaries and interior webs of the secondaries, black, 
spotted with white ; the interior vanes of the tail-feathers, 
elegantly spotted with white on a jet black ground ; lower 
side, light coloured ; exterior vanes, blue ; wing-coverts and 
secondaries, marked with small specks of white; legs, extremely 
short ; when the bird perches, it generally rests on the lower 
side of the second joint, which is thereby thick and callous; 
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