. New England bird life; being a manual of New England ornithology: ed. from the manuscript of Winfrid A. Stearns . Birds. CERYLE ALCYON : BELTED KINGFISHER. 63 favorite resorts, almost sure to be tenanted by a pair of these industrious birds, whose vehement cries are not less familar to the miller than the noise of his own ma- chinery. The birds are really far less numerous than many others less conspicuous and familiar, and usually a sheet or stretch of water is fished by only a single pair; but they are large, noisy, assertive creatures, im- possible to overlook, and therefore givin
. New England bird life; being a manual of New England ornithology: ed. from the manuscript of Winfrid A. Stearns . Birds. CERYLE ALCYON : BELTED KINGFISHER. 63 favorite resorts, almost sure to be tenanted by a pair of these industrious birds, whose vehement cries are not less familar to the miller than the noise of his own ma- chinery. The birds are really far less numerous than many others less conspicuous and familiar, and usually a sheet or stretch of water is fished by only a single pair; but they are large, noisy, assertive creatures, im- possible to overlook, and therefore giving an impression of being more abundant than they really are in comparison with less notorious examples of bird-life. They may be seen either swiftly winging along the water-course, or hover- ing and' plunging into the stream to rise suc- cessful with a fish in the beak, or perched upon some isolated outpost like aquatic Shrikes. The harsh cry has been aptly likened to the fig. sound made by springing a watchman's rattle, and it is no less startling in effect when breaking suddenly upon an unexpecting ear. The Kingfisher is a hole-breeder, like all of its tribe. Some of the many exotic species, which are less aquatic and feed rather upon insects and reptiles than upon fish, nest in hollows of trees; but all the true piscivorous Alcedinida burrow in the ground. A tunnel several — four, six or eight — feet in length, either straight or. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Stearns, Winfrid Alden, 1852-; Coues, Elliott, 1842-1899. Boston, Lee and Shepard; New York, C. T. Dillingham
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1883
