320 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK. 



contained tliree young ones in the month of May, 

 the second five eggs in July, and the latter four 

 young ones full fledged in summer. With these 

 various dates then, of eggs and young, the question 

 naturally arises, whether this species has two broods 

 in the year? That they breed early is evident from 

 my own and Mr. Gould's nest, and in that taken 

 at Eton the young were hatched in May; yet in the 

 Northamptonshire nest the eggs were found in July, 

 and it is not, I think, improbable, that if robbed of 

 their first offspring they will lay again, though perhaps 

 not accustomed as a rule to rear two broods in the 

 season. The appearance of the nest which I examined 

 at Keswick, and the situation of the hole, was strongly 

 in favour of its having been made by a rat, and enlarged 

 by the bird for its own purposes, but there seems little 

 doubt from the situations in which some nests have been 

 found, that these birds are also accustomed to excavate 

 for themselves. A young friend extremely fond of 

 ornithology, and a good observer, assured me not long 

 since that, on one occasion, he observed a kingfisher 

 in the act of boring into a bank, and although he could 

 never subsequently catch the bird at work, the hole 

 became deeper day by day, till probably through 

 his too frequent visits the chosen spot was deserted. 

 The above instances, I think, also clearly indicate 



the bottom ; the outside beautifully white, and looking like carved 

 ivory or lace." In the Northamptonshire nest, the eggs "were 

 deposited at the end of a hole four feet deep, and were lying on 

 sand mixed with a few small bones ;" and the third, in Italy " was 

 of a dirty yellow colour instead of white, built round like the nest 

 of a hedge-sparrow, except at the back, where it rose with an 

 irregular edge, about two inches higher than the front. The 

 bottom, front, and sides were quite hard, but the part that rose 

 behind was soft, and broke easUy under the fingers when lifted 

 from the ground, but by the next morning had become quite hard 

 and dry." 



