FAMILY CUCULIDAE 129 



They will tolerate no intrusions into their home, and resent 

 trespassers even in the vicinity. The female has often been seen 

 to meet a person two or three hundred yards from her young, 

 dash at the intruder, return to the place where the young were 

 perched, and repeat the attack several times. A kingfisher has 

 been known to attack and drive back a dog, and, on some 

 occasions, Mr. Potts states, it will make one of its famous 

 lightning darts into a group of pigeons or other birds, merely, 

 apparently, for the sake of standing by and enjoying their 

 terror. AVhile sheep and cattle have been allowed to graze close 

 to a nest, a cat, a dog, or a human being has been determinedly 

 attacked. 



There is not much more to add in regard to our kingfisher. 

 It is a useful bird, and eats up many injurious insects. One of its 

 characteristics is a great power of vision, and it has performed 

 some remarkable feats in sighting insects and bearing down on 

 them. It is a creature of habit, returning time after time to the 

 same nest or perching place. The New Zealand species seems 

 to be rather more sociable than the European bird. It lays from 

 five to seven eggs. Breeding takes place twice a year. 



The family, which is found all over the world, is celebrated 

 in poetry and legendary lore. The order still retains the name 

 "Halcyon," given by the ancients, who believed that the seven 

 days before the winter solstice and the seven days after were 

 the halcyon days, when the sea remained calm, so that the bird 

 could build its nest, which was believed to be placed on the 

 ocean. After death, its body was awarded attributes, such as 

 the power of lulling the tempests and giving beauty and 

 prosperity. To this day there is a belief in some parts of Europe 

 that, if a dead kingfisher is suspended by a thread, it will turn 

 its beak towards the wind and show from which direction it is 

 blowing. 



Order Cuculi. 

 Family Cuculidae. 

 Bill, moderate, or slender, slightly curved. Wing's and tail, 

 long. Legs and feet, small; two toes in front and two behind. 



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