WESTERN BELTED KINGFISHER. Ceryle alcyon caurina Grinnell

Field characters.—Size somewhat greater than that of Flicker; head big, tail small, bill stout, and crest prominent. Color above, slaty blue; beneath, silvery white with a broad belt of slate across breast. Female has also a belt, behind the slaty one, of bright rusty brown, with extensions of this color backward along each side. Flight rapid and usually in straightaway course up or down a stream. Voice: A loud grating clatter or rattle.

Occurrence.—Frequent along streams and about the margins of lakes up at least to the altitude of Tuolumne Meadows, 8600 feet. Observed along the Merced River, in nearly every month of the year, at many points, from near Snelling to and above El Portal, and along the Tuolumne River near Lagrange in spring; also, in summer and fall, in Yosemite Valley, in the upper Merced Cañon between Merced and Washburn lakes, and, on the Mono side of the mountains, at Walker Lake and along Rush Creek down nearly to Mono Lake.

Associated closely, as it is, with fish-producing waters, the Western Belted Kingfisher proves to be well represented in the Yosemite region. Along the sloughs and quieter parts of the Merced River, one's attention is often suddenly attracted by the harsh rattling note of one of these birds, as it dashes past in rapid flight. When alighting, it chooses some prominent bare tree branch at the side of the stream, where it can have an uninterrupted view of the water beneath and also have access to a clear 'fly-way' up and down. Here the bird perches with its big head and bill held horizontally, its crest showing in profile conspicuously. It does not keep one perch very long, however, but soon goes rattling off down the river to the next favorable vantage point.

This bird's wing-beat is characteristic, three quick beats followed by two executed in a more leisurely manner, like this: one, two, three; four; five.

A Western Belted Kingfisher watched by Mr. Walter P. Taylor came to a perch on a bare limb overhanging some rapids in the river, and sat there motionless. The outline of the bird's body at once became indistinguishable from the light and shade of its background; in other words it was obliterated because of the disruptive pattern of its coloration, white and slate areas alternating. If the fishes in the water beneath got the same impression as did the human observer, the kingfisher must have become invisible to them, remaining so until the moment of its headlong plunge in their pursuit.

Outlining the behavior of the belted kingfisher in further detail, our notes record an observation at Stoneman bridge, October 12, 1914. It was 5 P.M., and dusk was just coming on. A kingfisher was much in evidence. It flew down to the water, skimmed over its surface for a ways, then up and out into the woods, twisting among the trees with wild head-long flight. Then back to the river it flew, to take its position for a few moments on a cottonwood limb twenty feet above the water. It uttered, at short intervals throughout this flight, the characteristic harsh clatter.

At El Portal, December 5, 1914, a kingfisher was seen to perch on the tip of a sharp-angled boulder out in the swift current In that locality certain drift snags in mid-stream and dead oak branches extending out over the water were also chosen as perches.

Even to the casual observer the dependence of this bird on a diet of fishes is most apparent. This fact plainly accounts for the antipathy to it displayed by most human fishers, and, as a result, many kingfishers are killed each year, "just to get rid of them." We are convinced that the rate of multiplication of the fishes was long ago adjusted to the "expected depreciation" due to the regular draft on their numbers by kingfishers. Indeed, the birds probably constitute but one of very many causes of fish mortality. Moreover, one bird obtained by us, at Snelling, January 7, 1915, was found to contain in its stomach only sundry fragments of water beetles, indicating occasional departure from a purely fish diet. The numbers of the kingfishers are really not large; for example, we kept a pretty close watch from the train one afternoon, along the whole distance from Merced Falls to El Portal, and yet recorded just six individuals. Anyway, we would forbear to catch our share of trout if this were necessary to preserve in normal numbers so interesting a member of Yosemite's avifauna.

The Western Belted Kingfisher nests in Yosemite Valley proper, probably each year. In 1920, on June 23, a nest hole was located in the high south bank of the Merced River, about 200 yards below Stoneman Bridge. The entrance was 2 feet below the surface of the ground and 6 feet above the base of the bank, which was there washed by the deep water of an outward bow of the river. The otherwise circular hole had two track-like grooves at the entrance, marking the place where an arriving bird gained its first foothold. While the nest was under observation young birds were suddenly heard inside. Then the male (recognizable by the lack of brown coloring in its belt) arrived bearing a fish which protruded lengthwise from his bill. This bird and its mate had their forage range up and down the river between Stoneman and Sentinel bridges. Earth banks of the sort to accommodate nesting burrows occur along the river at several other points below Stoneman Bridge, but some of these, at least, are wholly inundated by the May floods. For instance, when search was made for kingfishers' nests on June 2, 1915, all the possible nesting sites then known were found to be covered with water.

A belted kingfisher was noted in Yosemite Valley in the fall of 1915 almost daily until November 4, but not subsequently. There is every likelihood, however, that the species remains throughout the winter wherever the food supply is adequate, up as high as the streams remain unfrozen.