KINGFISHER. 389 
SuB-ORDER Cucuut. Cuculiform Birds. 
FAMILY ALCEDINIDA. KINGFISHERS. 
Secondaries more than six. Feet syndactyle by connection of outer and middle toes. 
Outer toe much longer than inner, united for half its length with the middle, form- 
ing a broad sole. Tibia naked below. Bill longer than head, straight, acute, with hard 
cutting edges and ample rictus. Tengue rudimentary, fixed Wings pointed, much 
longer than the short square tail. Tail feathers twelve. Plumage compact, oily. 
CERYLE ALCYON (L.) Bole. 
Belted Kingfisher. 
Alcedo alcyon, WILSON, Am. Orn., iii, 1811, 59.—KmRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 162. 
—READ, Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sei., vi, 1853, 395. 
Ceryle alcyon, KIRKPATRICK, Ohio Farmer, ix, 1&60, 243.—WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. 
for 1860, 1861, 362; Reprint, 4; Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 1875, 
569; Reprint, 9—Marcu, Am. Nat, ii, 1868, 490 —LaNnepon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 
1877, 10; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 177; Reprint, 11; Sum- 
mer Birds, iii, 1880, 225. 
Kingfisher, BALLOU, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 225. 
Alcedo alcyon, LINN2:US, Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 180. 
Ceryle aicyon, Born, Isis, 1828, 316. 
Upper parts, broad pectoral bar, and sides under wings, dull blue with fine black 
shaft lines; lower eyelid, spot before eye, a cervical collar and under parts, except as 
said, pure white; the female with a chestnut belly band, and the sides of the same color, 
quills and tail feathers black, speckled, blotched and barred with white on the inner 
webs; outer webs of the secondaries and tail feathers like the back; wing-coverts fre- 
quently sprinkled with white; bill black, pale at the base below; feet dark. Length, 
12 or more; wing about 6; tail, 33; whole foot, 14; bill about 24. 
Habitat, North and Middle America and many of the West India Islands. 
Abundant. Resident in Southern Ohio, and retiring from Middle 
and Northern Ohio, only when the streams and ponds are covered with 
ice. In this vicinity Kingfishers usually arrive during the month of 
February and remain until December. Their food consisting exclusively 
of fish, they are seldom seen except in the immediate vicinity of water. 
They prefer for feeding places the rapid shallows of streams. Here they 
may be seen in pairs flying up and down the stream or hovering over a 
spot where they expect to secure their prey. The lower branches of a 
tree overhanging the water, or the top of a dead stub, furnish a favorite 
lookout, from which they plunge beneath the surface of the water. A fish 
secured, they fly off quickly to a secure spot to swallow their captive. 
Their note is a loud, coarse rattle, frequently repeated. 
The nest of the Kingfisher is an excavation in the face of a high bank 
of a stream or side of an artificial excavation. The entrance is usually 
