254 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



Family ALCEDINID^. 



Genus ALCEDO, Linnaeus. 

 KINGFISHEE. 



Alcedo ispida, Linnieus. S.N., I, p. 179 (17GG). 



The scarcity of the Kingfisher in Kent is attributable 

 to the large number that have been killed for their 

 beautiful plumage, but now there is every prospect of 

 their increase in the country. The Kingfisher hunts out 

 all the streams and lakes that are well stocked with 

 small fish, upon which it feeds, always selecting an over- 

 hanging tree, from which it drops like a stone upon its 

 prey, and returning generally to the same branch or one 

 near by ; there it may be seen to rap the lively little fish 

 against the branch until dead, before swallowing it. 



Mr. J. W. Hulke, writing on the occurrence of the 

 Kingfisher at Deal, says : " February 6, 1849 : I saw a 

 Kingfisher in the marshes to-day, a very rare occurrence 

 in this neighbourhood. May not this be owing to the 

 great number of water-rats which swarm all the streams, 

 destroying their eggs, as I believe they do those of the 

 Moorhen and AVater-Kail ? " 



In the Zoologist, 1851, Mr. W. W. Keeves, writing 

 to the editor, says : " I have enclosed you part of the 

 Kingfisher's nest which I found yesterday (May 8, 1851) 

 near this place (Tunbridge Wells). It contained seven 

 eggs, but they were so nearly hatched that it was 

 impossible to extract the young ones. It weighed 2k 

 ounces and w^as full of maggots." (" This nest consists 

 entirely of small fish-bones, a very usual circumstance, 

 and principally those of Eoach and Dace." — E. Newman.) 



In Mr. W. H. Power's Birds Observed at Bainham, 



