MARCH 343 
as that of the Pantheon. Such a home is built to stay, 
and if undisturbed would endure for years. Two little 
tracks are worn by the female’s feet the full length of 
the tunnel as she passes in and out. 
“The Kingfisher’s knowledge of construction, her 
ingenious manner of hiding her eggs from molestation, 
and her constancy to her young arouse our interest 
and admiration. We must also appreciate the difficulty 
with which the digging is attended, the meeting of fre- 
quent stones to block the work, which, by the way, may 
be the cause of the change in direction of the hole, but 
which I was inclined to believe intentional until I found 
a perfectly straight passage, in which a brood was suc- 
cessfully raised. 
“To get photographs of a series of the eggs and young 
was almost as difficult a task, I believe, as the King- 
fisher had in making the hole. It was necessary to walk 
at least four miles and dig down to the back of the nest, 
through the bank above, and fill it in again four times, 
without deranging the nest or frightening away the parent 
birds. But we were well repaid for the trouble, for the 
pictures accurately record what could not be described. 
“A photograph of the seven eggs was taken before they 
had even been touched, and numerous disgorgements of 
fish bones and scales show about the roomy apartment. 
The shapely domed ceiling, as well as the arch of the 
passage, is constructionally necessary for the safety of 
the occupants, the former being even more perfect than 
the pictures show. What is generally called instinct in 
birds has long since been to me a term used to explain 
what in reality is intelligence. 
