158 THE Birps Asour Us. 
enough of these “to go round,” all the kingfishers 
would be near at hand. They seem quite content to 
come within the limits of large towns, provided there 
is an abundance of food and the ubiquitous small 
boy is not too inquisitive. 
The following is Dr. J. M. Wheaton’s account of 
the nesting habits of the kingfisher as observed by 
him in Ohio, and it is applicable to the bird where- 
soever found: 
«The nest of the Kingfisher is an excavation in the face of a high 
bank of a stream or side of an artificial excavation. ‘The entrance 
is usually within a couple of feet below the top of the bank and ex- 
tends inward, usually straight, but sometimes with an angle, from 
three to six feet. Usually no nest is made, but near the extremity 
the eggs are deposited in the midst of fish-bones disgorged and ex- 
creted. The eggs are from five to seven, usually six, nearly spheri- 
cal, clear shining white, and of very dense texture. They measure 
1.30 by 1.05. The birds are very much attached to their nesting- 
site. One nest on the bank of a gravel-pit I have dug down upon 
for several successive years, and the birds are not yet inclined to 
desert the spot. Another bank occupied by these birds was re- 
moved by a freshet, and a large sycamore-tree which stood upon it 
was carried into the middle of the stream, where it remained with 
large quantities of earth adhering to the roots. In this earth the 
birds made a tortuous and difficult excavation, and successfully raised 
their young.” 
The Carolina Paroquet, which belongs to a different 
order from the preceding, but is next to it in the 
system of classification, will be but briefly considered. 
Ridgway, in the Manual, states: 
“Formerly, entire Mississippi Valley, Gulf States, and Southern 
Atlantic States, north (casually ?) to Michigan, Maryland, or even to 
Albany, New York, regularly to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, 
etc., west to Eastern Colorado and Texas; now nearly exterminated, 
