THE BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND 
98 
Belted Kingfisher 
goose) which it lays each year, their 
ground color being chocolate, with 
black clots sparingly distributed over 
the surface. 
Some birds build their summer 
homes in strange places. For instance, 
one would never think of finding the 
Kingfisher, so familiar to all who live 
near water, sitting on seven white eggs 
at the end of a burrow which would 
do credit to a woodchuck or rabbit, yet 
this is the form of seclusion which is 
sought. There is a gravel pit on the 
banks of the Sudbury River in Mas¬ 
sachusetts that is the home of Tmn- 
dreds of Swallows and two pairs of 
Kingfishers. The steep walls of this 
pit are honey-combed with the little 
holes of the Bank-swallows that live 
there and each year raise their broods 
to add to the numbers that skim over 
the smooth surface of the river. One 
may take a trowel and dig into the 
bank for three feet before coming to 
the end of the burrow, where on a few 
Grasses will be found at nesting time 
four white eggs. These are the only 
two New England birds, I believe, that 
conceal their eggs in the earth, but 
often birds use holes in trees for that 
purpose. Many of them are lazy* 
though, and have a habit of appropri¬ 
ating the deserted nests of wood¬ 
peckers which make their own excava¬ 
tions often to the depth of eighteen 
inches in sound green trees. There at 
the bottom of the hole thus made, on 
a few chips, they lay their eggs, always 
white, but varying greatly in size ac¬ 
cording to the variety. The Wood¬ 
peckers found in New England are the 
Red-headed, Hairy, Downy, Pileted, 
Yellow-bellied, Red-naped, and Gold¬ 
en-winged. In winter some of the 
Arctic species come to us. 
Along the sea-coast near fishing 
grounds, may be seen the common 
Terns hovering about, waiting to pick 
up any bits of fish thrown from the 
fishermen's boats, and sometimes tak¬ 
ing a hand themselves in the fishing. 
Their near relatives, the Caspian, Arc¬ 
tic, Roseate and Least Terns may be 
met with them. These birds all breed 
Whip-poor-will 
