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Belted Kingfisher
Adult male--Upper parts grayish blue; wing feathers tipped with white; under parts white, with grayish-blue band across breast, and the same colour on the sides; long feathers on the head, forming a crest.
Adult female--Resembles the male except that the band on the breast and the sides is chestnut instead of gray. Length--13.02.
Breeding Range--Throughout the United States.
The eggs are laid in a deep hole made by the bird; it sometimes is as much as eight or nine feet, though usually not more than about four feet in depth; this is generally excavated in a bank of sand, gravel, or earth, rarely in a cliff; it often takes the bird two weeks to make the hole. The nest is occasionally made of grass, though the eggs are more frequently deposited on the ground among bones and refuse ejected by the parent bird.
The eggs are white, and number from 5 to 7 and sometimes 8. Size--1.35 x 1.05.
This is the only representative of the kingfisher family found in the Eastern States; he may be seen along the banks of a stream or river or pond, but lacking confidence in man, he will not admit of a near approach.
The breeding season begins the first week in May, and probably only one set of eggs is laid.