38 



THE 05L0G1ST 



By the way, Fritz's mirror scheme 

 above referred to is used quite eflficient- 

 ly in looking into cavities in trees and 

 Woodpecker holes besides lighting 

 crevices and tunnels. 



The follovfing week Fritz found a 

 promising hole in the bank of a creek 

 in Hamilon Co., Ohio. But the fai'mer 

 was near, and he did not get to look at 

 it then. 



On May 11th we again visited the 

 nests in Kenton Co., Ky. We started 

 at two o'clock in the morning, so we 

 could arrive on the ground in time to 

 dig out the holes before the natives 

 were about, for the farmers might 

 think we were "swiping" something, 

 and wh«n a Kentucky farmer gets that 

 idea he is not safe to "monkey" with. 

 Well, we were disappointed in the iirst 

 hole for there was nothing in it. Per- 

 haps running the reed into the cavity 

 caused the bird to desert the nest. 



Then we proceeded to the other nests 

 and there were rewarded by a set of 

 seven beautiful peaiiy white, nearly 

 round eggs. The other holes contained 

 nothing. However one of them was 

 very interesting. This nest had two 

 entrances, which at the bank were 

 about two and one-half feet apart,curv- 

 ing inward to a common point. I found 

 one other nest of this sort and give be- 

 low the exact note which I took in the 

 field. 



May 18, 1895:— Belted Kingtisher: — 

 Nest built over running water, ankle 

 deep. Bank, hard, rocky. On putting 

 my hand into hole, surprised to see the 

 bird fy apparently out of the solid 

 bank at a short distance. Examination 

 showed that there was another entrance 

 to the nest (have found one other of 

 same sort). The two holes three feet 

 apart. The nest not so full as usual of 

 fish scales and bones. But for the 

 small amount of fish scales and bones, 

 eggs laid on bare ground. Eggs six, 

 four incubated. 



On May 25th we went out to the nest 



in Hamilton Co., Ohio. We got six eggs, 

 so rotten that it was impossible to blow 

 them. The remains of a dead Kingfisher 

 lay on the ground under the nest. Why 

 do people persist in making wai'fare 

 against so fine a bird as the Kingfisher? 

 As soon as the "sportsman" sees one he 

 is in high glee, and nothing will do but 

 to shoot it. 



In the above nest, besides the rotten 

 eggs there was a Swallow's nest just in 

 front of them. I could not find out 

 whether it was that of a Bank Swallow 

 or Rough-winged. Does the Bank 

 Swallow ever build in a cavity, which 

 it itself has not made? 



During the day we found a nest con- 

 taining seven well incubated eggs and 

 another with five young. On liftiug 

 one of the little fellows from his home 

 he looked about the grass around him 

 and standing as firm as he could, utter- 

 ed a surprised "why how's this?" 



In onr dealings with the Kingfisher 

 we became very expert in excavating 

 into his home. Our first thing to do 

 was to run a stick into the hole and 

 measure its length. Then to measure 

 the distance from the mouth of the hole 

 to the top of the bank. If the former 

 distance was the greater we then found 

 the slant of the hole and laid out the 

 distance in and slant, on top of the 

 bank, and digging down always hitting 

 the cavity just in front of the nest. But 

 if the latter was the case we dug direct- 

 ly into the bank. 



I have read that the Kingfisher usu- 

 ally builds two or three feet from the 

 top of the bank under a plowed field. 

 As I have found this to be the case I 

 have sought the cause. I think they 

 build so because the soil is much soft- 

 er here than it is further down. I 

 think the plowed field has no attraction 

 for the bird, except that the bank im- 

 mediately under the plowed ground is 

 much softer than the rest from the 

 plowman's working of the ground. I 

 have found nests in banks ranging from 



