268 THE KINGFISHER. 



banks of this stream and several of its tributaries. Mr. John 

 Ferguson, Duns, writes : — " In July 1872, I discovered two 

 nests within a hundred yards of each other, in a sand-bank 

 at the side of a burn (the Cabby Burn) which flows into the 

 Whitadder a little above Hutton Hall. What attracted my 

 attention to them was the quantity of excrement running 

 out of the holes in which they were placed. These holes 

 were bored, in the manner of a Sand Martin's nest, into the 

 bank, and were from two and a half feet to a yard in length. 

 On inserting my hand, I found three young birds in one 

 nest and seven in the other, all nearly full feathered. They 

 were of the same colour as the old birds, but the whitish 

 bar on the shoulder was scarcely so distinct. Quantities of 

 small fish bones, which had apparently been ejected from 

 the stomachs of the birds, were lying strewed about at the 

 farther end of the hole, and on these the young were sitting. 

 The nests themselves were quite clean, although the en- 

 trances were so choked up with filth that it was a marvel 

 the old birds could get in. I concealed myself behind a 

 hedge which runs parallel to the course of the burn, within 

 a few feet of one of the nests, and, after waiting a few 

 minutes, saw one of the parent birds, carrying a minnow in 

 its bill, fly rapidly up and down the burn several times, and 

 finally alight on a stone immediately beneath the hole. The 

 minnow was carried by the tail and was evidently quite 

 dead. After looking about suspiciously for a little, the bird 

 entered the nest. It remained there about a minute, and 

 then darted out with the speed of an arrow. The manner 

 in which it left the nest contrasted strangely with its 

 cautious mode of approaching it. I once discovered a King- 

 fisher's nest with eggs. These were of a pinkish white 

 colour, which became a pure white when they were blown. 

 The only notes I ever heard the Kingfisher utter are a sort 

 of ' chuck,' and a peculiar indescribable sound resembling 



