110 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



less numbers on almost all the rivers and brooks. The 

 Kibble and Hodder, the Wyre and Cocker, the Winster 

 and Diiddon, are all frequented by this lovely bird, 

 and though a partial migration to the coast always takes 

 place in ^Yinter, odd specimens may be seen throughout 

 the year, except in the very severest weather. The Eev. 

 J. D. Banister writes in his journal, of the Pilling 

 district, that the Kingfisher " seldom nests with us. In 

 September or early October it invariably appears on our 

 coast, and may be found on the pools on our marshes or 

 in the inland watercourses immediately adjoining the 

 sea. From September to March I could any day find 

 several in a short time, while in the remaining part of 

 the year it is a very great rarity to find one within 

 several miles." Mr. W. A. Durnford also notes it as 

 more numerous on the shores of Furness at the end of 

 the breeding-season, and writes {Zoologist, 1876) that a 

 few years before a specimen was killed by flying against 

 the lighthouse on the south end of Walney. It invari- 

 ably, I believe, digs a fresh hole for itself every year, 

 and does not occupy an old one, unless driven from the 

 first, and its eggs or young destroyed : the same bank 

 will be bored year after year with fresh holes if no inter- 

 ference takes place. Immediately the eggs are laid, 

 undigested fish bones are voided all round the sitting 

 bird, and an increasing ring is made whilst the eggs 

 are being hatched and the young are growing ; the 

 stream of faecal matter which then flows to the entrance 

 of the hole rendering it exceedingly offensive. It may 

 always be taken for certain that if no cast-up bones are 

 about the mouth of the hole no eggs have been laid. 

 The Kingfisher is an early breeder ; beginning to dig 

 late in March or early in April, and having the full com- 

 plement of eggs deposited by the third week of that 



