594 
HALCYONS. 
These are shy, solitary, and abstemious birds, feeding on insects, 
and diminutive aquatic animals, but principally on small fish, for which 
they assiduously watch while perched on some projecting stake or 
bough impending over the w^ater ; these they dexterously catch and 
swallow whole, at length casting up the scales, bones, and indigesti- 
ble parts in the form of pellets. They fly for short distances with 
considerable celerity, skimming directly over the surface of the land 
or water. — Species are spread over the whole globe, but they abound 
most in warm climates. In the United States, as in Europe, there 
is but a solitary peculiar race in each country. 
BELTED KING-FISHER. 
( Mcedo Mcyon , L. Wilson, iii. p. 59. pi. 23. fig. 1. Aud. pi. 77. 
Orn. Biog. i. p. 394. Phil. Museum, No. 2145.) 
Sp. Ciiaract. — Crested ; bluish slate-color ; breast with a bluish 
band ; a spot on either side of the eyes, with a large collar round 
the neck, as well as the vent, white. — Female , with the sides, and 
an additional belt on the breast, ferruginous. 
