in which ihe nest was placed, if a loose mass of small hones coiild he so called. 

 The entrance-hole was carefully examined. It was oval, 2J inches from above, 

 and 2^ inches from side to side, and was made so directly inwards that not a mark 

 ■was to be seen in the soil around it. Many authorities speak of the Kingfisher 

 forming its nest in the hole of the mole or water-rat, but this could not have 

 been the case here, for the face of the bank receded below the hole, and no rat 

 could have reached the entrance. There could be no doubt that it was made by 

 the bird itself, and it certainly bore a strong resemblance to the hole made by the 

 woodpecker in a tree. 



The Rev. K. H. "Williams thought Kingfishers never made nests, and that 

 the bones they threw up were scattered about the hole, that is that they were 

 ejected accidentally as it were, and without any design of their forming a nest. 

 The holes he knew always sloped upwards. 



Dr. Bull said that though the bones were loose or only slightly adherent 

 together, no one could see them in the place scooped out to receive them without 

 the conviction that they were there designedly. They did not form any true nest, 

 and he was certainly reminded on examining it of MacGUIivray's observation that 

 it was easy to tell whether there was a Kingfishers' nest in a given hole by ttie 

 stink which proceeded from it. He would like to ask members present one or two 

 questions about this beautiful bird, whether first their observation led them to 

 believe that it was becoming more scarce than formerly. He had recently been 

 told to his great satisfaction by a gentleman living on the banks of the Wye that 

 he thought that they had certainly increased in numbers during the last few 

 years. He would also like to know whether there were any traces in this 

 district of the poetry which of old attached itself to this bird. The presence of a 

 Kingfisher was formerly thought a safeguard against thunder and ensured the 

 peace of families. The possession of its feathers gave courage to those who wore 

 them, and ensured affection. To this day it is said the Tartars and some Eastern 

 people carry a skin about them as an amulet against every iU. The dead bird 

 was thought, too, to have some magnetic power, and when held up by a string 

 from the beak that its breast would invariably turn to the north. 



The Rev. D. J. George said that he could speak very decidedly with refer- 

 ence to the Monnow ; that they had certainly very much decreased in numbers 

 since his boyish days. He was not aware that any superstitious belief existed 

 with regard to them. 



The Rev. Arthur Gray was afraid that the ladies' hats were partly the cause 

 of their lessened numbers, and if its feathers had such powers he did not much 

 wonder at it (laughter). 



R. Rhys Jones, Esq., honorary secretary to the Cardiff Naturalists' Associa- 

 tion, said that he thought that the kingfishers sometimes changed the localities 

 they frequented ; within his own knowledge the birds had become much more 

 common, and the nests more numerous upon the Rhymney river within the last 

 six years, more especially on that part of the stream flowing through Col. Tynte's 



