78 



Bird- Lore 



are able, they wander about their little home until they are able to 

 fly, but evidently his experience was limited. My four pictures of the 

 young birds were taken by lifting them out of their nests and placing 

 them in a proper place to be photographed in the light, but the first 

 two pictures were taken in the positions in which they were naturally 

 found in the nest. The first, when they were about two days old, 

 was obtained on the 21st of May, i8gg, and the young were not 

 only found wrapped together in the nest, but the moment they were 

 put on the ground, one at a time, though their eyes were still 

 sealed, they immediately covered one another with their wings and 

 wide bills, making such a tight ball that when any one shifted a 

 leg, the whole mass would move like a single bird. This is a most 



luLM. KINGFISHERS, SlXim-.S 1 m i r> wi.,, 



sensible method of keeping warm, since the mother bird's legs are 

 so short that she could not stand over them, but as the}' are pro- 

 tected from the wind and weather they have no need of her. Their 

 appearance is comical in the extreme, and all out of proportion. 

 This clinging to one another is apparently kept up for at least ten 

 days, for a week later, when nine days old, they were found in 

 exactly a similar position. 



When the young were first observed they were absolutely naked, 

 without the suggestion of a feather, and, unlike most young birds, 

 showed no plumage of any kind until the regular final feathering, 

 which was the same as that of the adult, began to appear. The 

 growth of the birds was remarkably slow, and even when nine days 

 old the feathers were just beginning to push through their tiny 

 sheaths, but so distinctly showed their markings that I was able to 

 distinguish the sexes by the coloring of the bands on the chest. 



