AYOOD AND WASTE 49 



food uncoil sumed and in the last stage of 

 corruption. 



It ma}^ here be added that owing to the 

 tmnnltuous sanitary habits of the nestlings, 

 close inspection of a Kingfisher's burrow 

 is a highly adventurous method of learning 

 wisdom. 



Then the young birds quarrel without 

 cessation from daylight to dark, hour by 

 hour, girning like bad-tempered children, 

 the squabble alternately dying to a drone 

 and heightening to a twangling chorus of 

 treble shrieks. The nestlings might l>e 

 Jews' harps, loosely strung, and perpetually 

 twanged. I imagine that in their dark 

 chamber, when the bickerings liave sunk to 

 a sleepless drone, the least movement of a 

 single bird awakens the savage circle again 

 to recrimination. The young literally never 

 stop quarrelling, girning when on their 

 best behaviour, and screaming in sibilant 

 chorus when at their worst. My experience 

 with these vrild Kingfishers bears out a 

 friend's statement that they make the most 

 greedy and most fierce of pets, fighting 



