: hod. : sre are few situations, of whicl

f the Kingfisher in all parts of England, that there are few situa : ch
5

even the wate

ess in some nook or corner: yet how few of the busy denizens

So general is the dispersion 0
lio ROTTS a part, where it may not be found ;
seldom without a solitary example sitting motion
over-crowded metropolis have ever seen it there ! .
on the Thames, or indeed on any other river,
If the water be clear, it may be seen over the main stream ; but

rs in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park are

of our

To find a Kingfisher
bird must have been previously acquired.
if turbid and heavy, and its favourite food not visible,
ater: there he patiently sits on an overhanging bus
There are times particularly in autumn, when a partial migration takes
ovether for the salt marshes near the sea; here every ditch
oD

some knowledge of the habits of the

the bird instinctively resorts to a neighbouring ditch
h, and drops upon any aquatic insect,

or some backw
stickleback, or other small fish.
place, and the young at least leave the river alt
il fort keeps a sharp look-out for crustaceous or other aquatic creatures,

crossed by a rail forms a perch, whence it I one
Voracity, in fact, is one of the characteristics, not

in the choice of which it is not over-nice or particular. | orem
only of our bird, but of the whole race. The Australian Kingfisher will athicls asmall rat; the English Del
bullhead or a gudgeon the length of its own body, by which means 1t 1s nol unfrequently choked. No
greater proof can be given of the immense number of fish destroyed by these birds ha the fact that, of the
hones cast up in the shape of lengthened pellets from the stomach of a single pair, a oe nest was
formed in a few days. That such a quantity of bones should be cast up im so short a period may seem
strange ; but facts Ae stubborn things, and I will now relate an incident of this kind which came under my
own observation.

On the 18th of April 1859, during one of my fishing-excursions on the Thames, I saw a hole in a preci-
pitous bank, which I felt assured was the nesting-place of a Kingfisher; and on passing a spare top of my
fly-rod to the extremity, a distance of nearly three feet, I brought out some freshly cast bones of fish, con-
vineing me that I was right in my surmise. The day following I again visited the spot with a spade; and
after removing nearly two feet square of the turf, dug down to the nest without disturbing the passage
which led to it. Here I found four eggs, placed on the usual layer of fish-bones. These I removed with
care, and then replaced the earth, beating it down as hard as the bank itself, and restored the turfy sod. A
fortnight after, the bird was seen to leave the hole again, and my suspicion was awakened that she had taken
to her old breeding-quarters a second time. I again visited the place on the twenty-first day from the date
of my former exploration, and upon passing the top of my fly-rod up the hole, found not only that it was
of the former length, but that the female was within. I then took a large mass of cotton-wool from my
collecting-box, and stuffed it to the extremity, in order to preserve the eggs from damage during my
again laying it open from above. On removing the sod and digging down as before, I came to the cotton-
wool, and beneath it a well-formed nest of fish-bones, the size of a small saucer, the walls of which were fully
half an inch thick, together with eight beautiful, translucent, pale pinky-white eggs, and the old female
herself. This nest I removed with the greatest care; and it is now deposited in the proper resting-place for
so interesting an object, the British Museum. This mass of bones, then weighing 700 grains, had been cast
up and deposited by the bird and its mate in the short space of twenty-one days. Ornithologists are divided
in opinion as to whether the fish-bones are to be considered in the light of a nest. Some are disposed to
believe them to be the castings and feces of the young brood of the year, and that the same hole being
frequented for a succession of years, a great mass is at length formed ;

while others suppose that they are
deposited by the parents as a platform for the eves, constituting,

in fact, a nest; and I think, from what I

have adduced, we may fairly conclude that this is the case ; In fact nothing could be better adapted to defend

the eggs from the damp earth.

Phe great Dacelones of Australia deposit their eggs in cavernous hollows in the boles of the Eucalypti; the
Halcyones in the spouts of the branches of the

same trees; both on the bare wood. Our Kinefisher, and
: : nefisher, anc
probably all the true A/cedines, on the other hand, like the S i

hole in an upright bank, to the depth of two or three fe
chamber, large enough for its seven or eight young

and-Martin, drills a circular, upward-slanting
et, at the end of which it excavates an oven-like
to sit upright on the nest of bones, the slanting
excrement; and hence the foetid odour from this cloaca

It is also detectable by means of another sense ; for if the
l voices of the young
wheel, or the pea in a child’s rattle, may be heard.

direction of the entrance serving as a drain for the
often leads to the detection of the breeding-place.
ear be placed to the opening, the shril resembling the noise produced by a spinning-
When the young quit the hole, they sit about on the
they arrive and supply by turns the ravenous brood.
n colour ; they are therefore gaily dressed from the

e; the male, however, is smaller than his mate in size,

neighbouring branches, and greet the old birds as
E :

These young fliers generally resemble the adults ;
ESAT LN An ce Cay a
beginning. The adult of both sexes are much alik

but brighter in colour.
Independently of the British Islands, the Kinef
. . . . 5
north ; it is also distributed over the
allied species, the Alcedy Bengalensis,

The Plate represents the two sexes

sher j i x
hee er inhabits every part of Europe, except the extreme
African border of the Mediterranean ;

in India it is replaced by anearly

» of the natural size, on the Carex riparia.