146 American Birds 



base. He could hardly hold a fish if he caught one, and 

 instead of fishing for a living I think he was doing the 

 woman's work at home and his wife was catching fish. 

 There were six pure white eggs, and after taking a picture 

 of the injured bird we carefully closed the nest again. 



We were afraid the birds would desert the nest, but 

 they didn't. The male continued the incubating, and it 

 was sixteen or seventeen days from the time the eggs were 

 laid till they were hatched. The young were blind, naked, 

 and helpless. I knew just as well when the young kings 

 were born as if I had crawled back through the under- 

 ground passage for four feet and struck a match to look. 

 Both birds took to fishing, and they kept the air-line trail 

 hot between the pond and the bank. 



It took almost four weeks of feeding and nourishing 

 before the young kingfishers were able to leave the hole 

 in the bank. We watched the nest pretty closely and 

 were present when they came out. Not one of the young- 

 sters was strong on the wing, and we had our cameras 

 ready. That hole in the bank surely held one of the 

 wildest-eyed feathery tribes I ever saw. We tried for a 

 whole day and finally got six of the frowzy-headed fishers 

 in a pose. 



In due time all the family of young kings made their 

 way to the pond, where they perched on the projecting 

 snags over the water. They were not experts on the wing, 

 nor could they spear a fish, but they were not too old to 

 learn. It can't be an easy thing for a bird to hit a fish 

 when it is swimming under water, not at least when the 

 water is rough, or when the fisher does not know, by 

 a long diving experience, how the light is reflected. 



