ALCEDINID.E. 295 



])reeding season, when he occasionally uttere a shaii) 

 pierciug cry, indicative perhaps of attachment, and equally 

 solitary and unsocial in his habits, the Kingfisher dwells 

 alone, seldom consorting with others, or even with his 

 mate except during the rearing of the young, when both 

 sexes discharge with assiduity the duty of procuring 

 requisite suj^plies of food. The places selected for incu- 

 bation are steep and secluded banks overhanging ponds 

 and rivers, where in a hole, generally at a considerable dis- 

 tance above the surface of the water, and extending to 

 the dei)th of two or three feet into the bank, the female, 

 without making a nest, lays five or six eggs, of a beau- 

 tiful pinky white. As soon as the young are hatched, 

 the parent birds may be seen incessantly passing to and 

 from the hole with food, the ejected remains of which in 

 ;t short time accumulate around the unfledged ]:)rood. 

 The young do not leave the hole until fully fledged, when, 

 seated on some neighbouring branch, they may be known 

 by their clamorous twittering as they greet their parents, 

 from whom they impatiently expect supplies of food. 

 Jn a short time, however, they commence flashing for 

 themselves, assuming at that early age a plumage nearly 

 resembling the adult. The young appear to possess 

 habits of partial migration, at least in our own island ; 

 they wander from the iuterior of the country along the 

 I'ivers to the coast, and in the autumnal and winter 

 months frequent the mouths of small rivulets and dykes 

 near the sea. 



