8o Bird- Lore first. Sometimes before the bird reaches the surface of the water the fish has disappeared or is out of reach, when the Kingfisher changes its course and with an upward sweep resumes its former position. Again, during a flight over the stream the keen eye of the Kingfisher discovers a fish, when it will stop suddenly in its course and hover with extended wings over the spot for a few seconds, when it will dive with the same ease and accuracy as it did from the limb. Kingfishers are not sociable with their own kind, nor with the human race. A pair will preempt a locality, and no other Kingfishers are permitted to occupy the same territory. If we seek to approach this king of fisher- men he permits us to get within a certain distance, usually a long gun-shot off, when his distaste for human companionship becomes so great that, v -•»- <*w v-4 # KINGFISHERS TWO DAYS OLD Photographed by H. L. Baily with a loud, rattling cry, he leaves his post of observation and flies a few hundred yards up stream and alights. Again we try to approach, but the bird is even more suspicious than before, and soon takes another flight over the stream. This is repeated until the Kingfisher thinks he is getting too far away from his home, when, sweeping wide, he will circle past us and with loud, rattling cries, seemingly in derision at our futile attempts to catch him, will return to his favorite outlook to resume his finny quest. The Belted Kingfisher is found throughout North America, but is no- where very common, owing to its solitary and unsociable disposition. During the breeding season its range extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Sea and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. When the ice closes the waters of the north the Kingfishers move southward, and their winter range is from the West Indies and northern South America to the Canadian border of the United States. Open water and a food supply are the factors that determine their winter quarters.
