BRITISH BIRDS. 83 



<;rops, which no cuckoo ever did. But it is really a puzzle, 

 nevertheless, for no one knows exactly where it goes when 

 it leaves this country, or from whence it comes to us. It is 

 pretty sure to announce its arrival by its note, but the 

 exact time of its departure is a mystery. 



It is curious, too, that it should never, or hardly ever, 

 make the mistake of entrusting one of its valuable eggs to 

 a hard-billed, seed-eating bird, though the semi-insectivor- 

 ous chaffinch is sometimes, and the yellowhammer very 

 often, selected to nurse its offspring. 



THE KINGFISHER. 



Fam i 1 y — A Icedincc. 



Genus — Alccdo. A. ispida. 



The Kingfisher is perhaps the most brilliantly-coloured 

 of any real British bird, for some others, included in 

 Morris's work, surpass it in gaudy attire, but can scarcely 

 be considered British on the strength of a specimen or"two 

 escaped from some aviary, and, of course, shot by some 

 Briton on the rampage, gun in hand. 



The top of the head and the wing coverts are a fine 

 shade of green, the one with transverse and the other with 

 oval spots of sky blue ; the back and shoulders are 

 turquoise blue. The lores, and a circle round the eyes, 

 are black ; below this is a patch of orange, succeeded 

 by one of pure white ; the rump and tail coverts are light 

 blue, the tail a very dark shade of the same colour ; the 

 chin is white, shading to light buflf, which deepens on the 

 breast and under parts to orange ; the bill is greyish black 

 above, but yellowish underneath ; the legs and feet dull red. 

 The length is 7 inches, of which the tail measures H, and 



