Northern Observations of Inland Birds 241 



love for certain places. In the country of my boyhood 

 kingfishers were as rare as anywhere in the land, but 

 there was one gravel-bedded pool, overshadowed by 

 the trees and having high, sandy banks, inaccessible 

 on account of the depths below, where they could be 

 found at any season. It would seem that the birds mate 

 for life, as at no time do they really forsake their nesting 

 haunts. 



The young birds of the previous season, becoming 

 mated, evidently decide upon their nesting haunts very 

 early in the new year, and thereafter they busy themselves 

 about the place, and may daily be seen there, even though 

 several months may elapse ere the first eggs are laid. 

 The nest is rarely within arm's reach, and very often 

 it is located twelve feet or more from the hole mouth, 

 the birds using an old water-rat tunnel, or possibly a 

 martin shaft which season by season has been extended. 

 Not uncommonly the earth above an old hole becomes 

 so thin that calamity befalls the family by cattle treading 

 above and sinking through, to the complete annihilation 

 of all below. I knew this to happen on the River Wharfe. 



The kingfisher seizes its prey after the manner of 

 the sea-swallow — that is, plunges head foremost and at 

 lightning speed in pursuit of it. It feeds chiefly on 

 small fish, such as sticklebacks and minnows, and rarely 

 misses its mark. With the fish crosswise in its bill, it 

 returns to its perch above, beats its quarry against the 

 branch to kill it, then either swallows it head foremost 

 or flies oflF to feed its young. One would think that the 

 nest of a kingfisher which had been swallowing stickle- 

 backs would hardly form an ideal couch on which to 

 spend so may weary days of incubation ! 



Kingfishers, like flycatchers and wagtails, have certain 

 favourite perches dotted up and down, which they 

 frequent at regular intervals. From one to the next 



P 



