BIRDS OF THE WAVE AND WOODLAND 201 



how ferociously it takes the first bit, and the second, and 

 perhaps the third ; and then how utterly and suddenly its 

 appetite collapses! It refuses, in the most dogged and sulky 

 way, to open its beak though you tempt it ever so much. 

 It has had enouo-h, and it knows it, and isn't ofoine to burst 

 for you or for anybody else. It is just the same in the nest. 

 The first two or three pieces of food may all follow one 

 another down the same throat, but next time the mother 

 comes there is one mouth shut tvAu. And so it oroes on. 

 One by one the mouths are shut up, and the mother comes at 

 last with a titbit, and finds every one of the little ones asleep, 

 on full stomachs, and as haughtily regardless of her and her 

 provender as if they would never need feeding any more. 

 So the mother eats it herself, and sits down on the top of the 

 sleepers. This is the whole secret of the mystery. While 

 the little birds are hungry they keep on asking for more : as 

 soon as they are stuffed full they convey that information to 

 the parents by holding their tongues. So all get fed. 



And a word here as to that odd superstition which is still 

 current, that the British Museum will give "a hundred pounds 

 for a complete kingfisher's nest." Every year the " authorities " 

 are written to by people in the country offering to send them 

 one at the price, but of course it was never offered, and indeed 

 a kingfisher's nest has not been wanted, since the beautiful 

 section of a river-bank, with the nest, and young, and old 

 ones all complete, was set up in the Bird Gallery at the British 



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