144 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Eggs. — The Texas kingfisher lays three to six eggs, but five seems 

 to be the commonest number. These vary in shape from oval to 

 elliptical-oval; the shell is smooth and thin; some show little or no 

 gloss and others are quite glossy ; the color is pure white. The meas- 

 urements of 64 eggs average 24.36 by 19.23 millimeters; the eggs 

 showing the four extreme measures 26.4 by 20.3, 24.1 by 20.7, 22.3 

 by 19.3, and 23.8 by 17.5 millimeters. 



Young. — The second nest that Mr. Skutch found contained five 

 "pink-skinned, blind, and totally naked nestlings," which "like those 

 of the larger species, had undershot bills and heel callosities." He 

 visited this nest 18 days later and found that the young, which were 

 not more than 25 days old, "could flutter just a few feet. One flew into 

 the river, where she spread her wings on the surface and headed for 

 the shore. I threw her into the shallow water again, and again she 

 turned unerringly toward the marginal rocks, beating her wings on the 

 surface until she gained a footing. The following morning I placed 

 them on the shore for a photograph, but two found their wings and 

 easily traversed the 50-foot channel, flying low above the surface. The 

 power of flight had come to them almost overnight. 



"One evening early in June, after the sun had fallen behind the 

 bordering fringe of willow trees, I was resting on a log stranded on the 

 flood plain of the river, when a young green kingfisher flew upstream, 

 calling cheep at intervals, and perched on a pile of brushwood almost 

 in front of the burrow in which it was hatched. Presently its father 

 came flying downstream, with a small minnow in his bill, and perched 

 on the same pile of brushwood, not far from the other. The young 

 bird came toward him, as if to receive the fish, but the other raised his 

 wings above his back to forfend it. The youngster took this as a hint 

 to remain aloof and perched at a little distance. Not satisfied with the 

 interval that remained between them, the male darted at the young 

 bird, which retreated a few feet. Several times it started to approach 

 its father, but each time was warned to remain away by the spread 

 wings, a very picturesque attitude. Several times, too, the bird with 

 the fish drove at the applicant for it and finally, still holding the 

 fish in his bill, chased it down the stream and out of sight. The young 

 kingfisher had been out of the nest 29 days and must now at least learn 

 to dive for its own fish." 



Plumages. — The young kingfishers are hatched naked and blind, as 

 described above, but the juvenal plumage is acquired before the young 

 leave the nest. A young male, taken on August 21, fully grown and 

 fully fledged in juvenal plumage, is much like the adult female ; the 

 rich brown pectoral band of the adult male is only faintly indicated 

 but is replaced by a band of greenish-black spots ; and there is more 



