173 
Ghee Birds of Cookham and the MWeighbourhood, 
THE KINGFISHER.—Continued from page 152. 
OM. his window opposite this point, he has watched them, 
and he tells me he has sometimes seen Kingfishers dive un- 
successfully five or six times, each time returning to the post. 
I would venture to suggest that the bird does not always dive for 
fish, but that he makes a commotion in order to attract them, for 
we all know how fish will assemble at any point where a stone has 
been thrown in or the water otherwise disturbed. Mr. Briggs 
concurs with me in this idea, and I well remember seeing a 
Kingfisher on Widbrook Common, near Cookham, dashing into 
a little brook which traverses it, first one way and then the 
other, and making the water fly in all directions. Six times did 
it plunge, and it is obvious it did not catch six fish; and as 
it took up its station on a willow immediately above the spot 
it had disturbed, I can only suppose it was attracting the 
fish to the spot by the commotion it had caused. When the 
bird has captured its finny prey, it does not always kill it 
on the branch from which it dived, but carries it further on 
to another resting-place, where it taps it sharply in order 
to kill it, and then swallows it whole. The favourite place 
for this purpose is the side of a boat or punt, and there is a 
boat moored in the stream running up one side of Formosa, 
towards Mr. Venables’ Mill, which is a chosen resort for the 
Kingfishers. Here they alight and rest after swallowing their 
prey, and the bottom of the boat is often strewn with the 
pellets thrown up by them. ‘Two birds are often seen seated 
close together on the boat’s side; and the rap they give the 
fish before swallowing it can be heard a long distance off. I 
have studied their habits round Cookham, and I believe that 
each bird has its own separate hunting ground, and its own 
favourite posts; for after some weeks pursued in watching them 
round Odney Common, and thence through Miss Fleming’s 
grounds at the Grove, I used to know, when I had startéd 
