. Bird neighbors. An introductory acquaintance with one hundred and fifty birds commonly found in the gardens, meadows, and woods about our homes . ain that promisesmuch, but growing weaker and weaker, ends as if the bird wereeither out of breath or too weak to finish. Then suddenly hebegins the same song over again, and keeps up this continuousperformance for nearly half an hour. The noonday heat of anAugust day that silences nearly every other voice, seems to giveto the indigo birds only fresh animation and timbre. The Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) Kingfisher family Called also: THE HALC
. Bird neighbors. An introductory acquaintance with one hundred and fifty birds commonly found in the gardens, meadows, and woods about our homes . ain that promisesmuch, but growing weaker and weaker, ends as if the bird wereeither out of breath or too weak to finish. Then suddenly hebegins the same song over again, and keeps up this continuousperformance for nearly half an hour. The noonday heat of anAugust day that silences nearly every other voice, seems to giveto the indigo birds only fresh animation and timbre. The Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) Kingfisher family Called also: THE HALCYON Length—12 to IJ inches. About one-fourth as large again as therobin. Male—Upper part grayish blue, with prominent crest on headreaching to the nape. A white spot in front of the eye. Billlonger than the head, which is large and heavy. Wings andthe short tail minutely speckled and marked with brokenbands of white. Chin, band around throat, and underneathwhite. Two bluish bands across the breast and a bluishwash on sides. Female—Female and immature specimens have rufous bandswhere the adult males are blue. Plumage of both birds BELTED KINGFISHER Blue and Bluish ^^;i!^<?—North America, except where the Texan kingfisherreplaces it in a limited area in the Southwest. Common fromLabrador to Florida, east and west. Winters chiefly fromVirginia southward to South America. Migra^w/!s~Miirch. December. Common summer a winter resident also. If the kingfisher is not so neighborly as we could wish, or ashe used to be, it is not because he has grown less friendly, butbecause the streams near our homes are fished out. Fish hemust and will have, and to get them nowadays it is too oftennecessary to follow the stream back through secluded woods tothe quiet waters of its source: a clear, cool pond or lake whosescaly inmates have not yet learned wisdom at the point of thesportsmans fly. In such quiet haunts the kingfisher is easily the most con-spicuous objec
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1904
