TRIBE II. AMBULATORES, ILLIGER. FAMILY VI. ANGULIR OSTRES, ILLIGER. GENUS VII.-ALCEDO, LINNEUS. 48. ALCEDO ALCYON, LINNÆUS.-BELTED KINGSFISHER. WILSON, PL. XXIII. FIG. I. — FEMALE. — EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. THIS is a general inhabitant of the banks and shores of all our fresh water rivers, from Hudson's Bay to Mexico; and is the only species of its tribe found within the United States. This last circumstance, and its characteristic appearance, make it as universally known here, as its elegant little brother, the common kingsfisher of Europe, is in Britain. Like the love-lorn swains, of whom poets tell us, he delights in murmuring streams and falling waters; not, however, merely that they may sooth his ear, but for a gratification somewhat more substantial. Amidst the roar of the cataract, or over the foam of a torrent, he sits perched upon an overhanging bough, glancing his piercing eye in every direction below for his scaly prey, which, with a sudden circular plunge, he sweeps from their native element, and swallows in an instant. His voice, which is not unlike the twirling of a watchman's rattle, is naturally loud, harsh, and sudden; but is softened by the sound of the brawling streams and cascades among which he generally rambles. He courses along the windings of the brook or river, at a small height above the surface, sometimes suspending himself by the rapid action of his wings, like certain species of hawks, ready to pounce on the fry below; now and then settling on an old dead overhanging limb to reconnoitre. Mill-dams are particularly visited by this feathered fisher; and the sound of his pipe is as well known to the miller, as the rattling of his own hopper. Rapid streams, with high perpendicular banks, particularly if they be of a hard clayey, or sandy nature, are also favourite places of resort for this bird; not only because in such places the small fish are more exposed to view, but because those steep and dry banks are the chosen situations for his nest. Into these he digs with bill and claws horizontally, sometimes to the extent of four or five feet, at the distance of a foot or two from the surface. The few materials he takes in are not always placed at the extremity of the hole, that he and his mate may have room to turn with convenience. The eggs are five, pure white, and the first brood usually comes out about the beginning of June, and sometimes sooner, according to that part of the country where they reside. On the shores of Kentucky river, near the town of Frankfort, I found the female sitting early in April. They are very tenacious of their haunts, breeding for several successive years in the same hole, and do not readily forsake it, even though it be visited. An intelligent young gentleman informed me, that having found where a kingsfisher built, he took away its eggs from time to time, leaving always one behind, until he had taken no less than eighteen from the same nest. At some of these visits, the female, being within, retired to the extremity of the hole, while he withdrew the egg, and next day, when he returned, he found she had laid again as usual. The fabulous stories related by the ancients of the nest, manner of hatching, &c. of the kingsfisher, are too trifling to be repeated here. Over the winds and the waves the humble kingsfishers of our days, at least the species now before us, have no control. is neither constructed of glue nor fish bones; but of loose grass and a few feathers. It is not thrown on the surface of the water to float about, with its proprietor, Its nest at random, but snugly secured from the winds and the weather in the recesses of the earth; neither is its head or its feathers believed, even by the most illiterate of our clowns or seamen, to be a charm for love, a protection against witchcraft, or a security for fair weather. It is neither venerated, like those of the Society Isles, nor dreaded, like those of some other countries; but is considered merely as a bird that feeds on fish; is generally fat; relished by some as good eating; and is now and then seen exposed for sale in our markets. › Though the kingsfisher generally remains with us, in Pennsylvania, until the commencement of cold weather, it is seldom seen here in winter; but returns to us early in April. In North and South Carolina, I observed numbers of these birds in the months of February and March. I also frequently noticed them on the shores of the Ohio, in February, as high up as the mouth of the Muskingum. I suspect this bird to be a native of the Bahama Islands, as well as of our continent. In passing between these isles and the Florida shore, in the month of July, a kingsfisher flew several times round our ship, and afterwards shot off to the south. The length of this species is twelve inches and a half, extent twenty; back and whole upper parts, a light bluish slate colour; round the neck is a collar of pure white, which reaches before to the chin; head, large, crested; the feathers, long and narrow, black in the centre, and generally erect; the shafts of all the feathers, except the white plumage, are black; belly and vent, white; sides under the wings, variegated with blue; round the upper part of the breast passes a band of blue, interspersed with some light brown feathers; before the eye is a small spot of white, and another immediately below it; the bill is three inches long from the point to the slit of the mouth, strong, sharp-pointed, and black, except near the base of the lower mandible, and at the tip, where it is of a horn colour; primaries and interior webs of the secondaries, black, spotted with white; the interior vanes of the tail feathers, elegantly spotted with white on a jet black ground; lower side, light coloured; exterior vanes, blue; wingcoverts and secondaries, marked with small specks of white; legs, extremely short; when the bird perches, it generally rests on the lower side of the second joint, which is thereby thick and callous; claws, stout and black; whole leg, of a dirty yellowish colour; above the knee, bare of feathers for half an inch; the two exterior toes united together for nearly their whole length. The female is sprinkled all over with specks of white; the band of blue around the upper part of the breast is nearly half reddish brown; and a little below this, passes a band of bright reddish bay, spreading on each side under the wings. The blue and rufous feathers on the breast are strong, like scales. The head is also of a much darker blue than the back, and the white feathers on the chin and throat of an exquisite fine glossy texture, like the most beautiful satin. FAMILY VII. GENUS VIII.—STURNUS, LINNÆUS. 49. STURNUS LUDOVICIANUS, LINN.—ALAUDA MAGNA, WILSON. MEADOW LARK. WILSON, PLATE XIX. FIG. II. — EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. THOUGH this well known species cannot boast of the powers of song which distinguish that " harbinger of day," the sky lark of Europe, yet in richness of plumage, as well as in sweetness of voice, (as far as his few notes extend,) he stands eminently its superior. He differs from the greater part of his tribe in wanting the long straight hind claw, which is probably the reason why he has been classed, by some naturalists, with the starlings. But, in the particular form of his bill, in his manners, plumage, mode and place of building his nest, nature has clearly pointed out his proper family. This species has a very extensive range; having myself found them in Upper Canada, and in each of the States from New Hampshire to New Orleans. Mr Bartram also informs me, that they are equally abundant in East Florida. Their favourite places of retreat are pasture fields and meadows, particularly the latter, which have conferred on them their specific name; and no doubt supplies them abundantly with the particular seeds and insects on which they feed. They are rarely or never seen in the depth of the woods; unless where, instead of underwood, the ground is covered with rich grass, as in the Chactaw and Chickasaw countries, where I met with them in considerable numbers in the months of May and June. The extensive and luxuriant prairies between Vincennes and St Louis also abound with them. It is probable that, in the more rigorous regions of |