52 THE BIRDS OF BERKS AND BUCKS. 



examining it. The crown of the head was white, as 

 were several feathers of both wings, and some of the 

 back, breast, and tail feathers : the lower parts of the 

 breast and back feathers were slate colour, and the 

 whole appearance of this specimen was very peculiar. 



7>/^^— riSSiROSTRES. Fajnily — Halcyonid.e. 



Kingfisher {Alcedo ispidd). In my opinion, the 

 species now before us is by far the handsomest of 

 all our indigenous birds. I love to see one of these 

 brightly-coloured Kingfishers dart by with quickly- 

 beating wing, and drop perpendicularly into the 

 placid water, to reappear immediately with a strug- 

 gling minnow. The victim is soon quieted by a sharp 

 tap against its captor's perch, to which the latter 

 invariably returns, and is then swallowed head fore- 

 most. While waiting for its finny prey, the King- 

 fisher sometimes hovers over the water after the 

 manner of the Kestrel. A few pairs annually breed 

 along the banks of the Thames, Colne, Chess, and 

 Kennett, as well as in holes in the banks of small 

 streams, and larger pieces of water. 



A pair of Kingfishers have, for several successive 

 years, built in the same hole of an old deserted sand- 

 pit in the middle of Ditton Woods. In this pit there 

 is very little water, and during a dry season it is per- 

 fectly devoid of the least damp ; yet here this pair 

 annually breed : but unfortunately the nest has been 



