. Handbook of birds of the western United States, including the great plains, great basin, Pacific slope, and lower Rio Grande valley . 198 KINGFISHERS FAMILY ALCEDINIDiE : KINGFISHERS. GENUS CERYLE. General Characters. — Head with occipital crest; bill longer than head,stout, acute ; wings long and pointed ; tail much shorter than wing-; tarsusonly about half as long- as middle toe. KEY TO SPECIES. 1. Upper parts bluish gray. 2. Belly white alcyon, p. 198. 2. Belly rufous torquata, p. 199. 1. Upper parts metallic bottle green .... septentrionalis. p. 199. 390. Ceryle alcyon (Linn.). Belted Ki
. Handbook of birds of the western United States, including the great plains, great basin, Pacific slope, and lower Rio Grande valley . 198 KINGFISHERS FAMILY ALCEDINIDiE : KINGFISHERS. GENUS CERYLE. General Characters. — Head with occipital crest; bill longer than head,stout, acute ; wings long and pointed ; tail much shorter than wing-; tarsusonly about half as long- as middle toe. KEY TO SPECIES. 1. Upper parts bluish gray. 2. Belly white alcyon, p. 198. 2. Belly rufous torquata, p. 199. 1. Upper parts metallic bottle green .... septentrionalis. p. 199. 390. Ceryle alcyon (Linn.). Belted Kingfisher. Adult male. — Under parts wbite, with blue gray belt across breast;crest and upper parts bluish gray ; nuchal collar white ; wing quills Fig. 260. marked with white ; tall with middle feathers bluish gray, the rest black,spotted with white. Adult female : similar, but belly partly banded andsides heavily washed with rufous. Young : like adults, but male withbreast band and sides tinged with rusty. Length : , wing , tail bill 2 or more. Distribution. — North America from the Arctic Ocean south to Panamaand the West Indies. Breeds from the southern border of the UnitedStates northward ; accidental at the Hawaiian Islands. Nest. — A burrow 4 to 15 feet long, in railroad cuts or perpendicularbanks over water, f^ggs : usually 5 to 8, white. Food. — Fisb, and when not obtainable frogs, lizards, Crustacea, andinsects such as coleoptera, grasshoppers, and large black crickets. So long as the fishing is good the kingfisher is equally at home inMaine, southern Texas, or the Yosemite, but in the Sierra Nevadamountains the brown streams polluted by placer mining have noattraction for him, and
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