676 ALCEDO IPSIDA. 



that the nest is formed of dry grass, roots, and feathers ; but 

 Montagu gives a different account of it. 



" The hole chosen to breed in is always ascending, and gene- 

 rally two or three feet in the bank ; at the end is scooped a 

 hollow, at the bottom of which is a quantity of small fish-bones, 

 nearly half an inch thick, mixed in with the earth. This is 

 undoubtedly the castings of the parent birds, and not of the 

 young, for we have found it even before they have eggs, and 

 have every reason to believe both male and female go to that 

 spot for no other purpose than to eject this matter for some 

 time before the female begins to lay, and that they dry it by 

 the heat of their bodies, as they are frequently known to con- 

 tinue in the hole for hours long before they have eggs. On 

 this disgorged matter the female lays to the number of seven 

 eggs, which are perfectly white and transparent, of a short oval 

 form, weighing about one dram. The hole in which they 

 breed is by no means fouled by the castings ; but before the 

 young are able to fly it becomes extremely fetid by the foeces 

 of the brood, which is of a very watery nature, and cannot be 

 carried away by the parent birds, as is common with most of 

 the smaller species. In defect of which instinct has taught 

 them to have the entrance to their habitation ascending, by 

 which means the filthy matter runs off, and may frequently be 

 seen on the outside. We never could observe the old birds 

 with any thing in their bills when they went in to feed their 

 young ; from which it may be concluded they eject from their 

 stomach for that purpose." 



This account of the nest however is very improbable, and 

 accordingly Mr Rennie, in his edition of Montagu's Dictionary, 

 doubts its accuracy. " In the bank of a stream, at Lee in 

 Kent, we have been acquainted with one of these nests in the 

 same hole for several successive summers, but so far from the 

 exuviae of fish-bones ejected, as is done by all birds of prey, 

 being dried on purpose to form the nest, they are scattered 

 about the floor of the hole in all directions, from its entrance 

 to its termination, without the least order or working up with 

 the earth, and all moist or fetid. That the eggs may by acci- 

 dent be laid upon portions of these fish-bones is highly probable, 



