316 LAND BIRDS 
stantly by day, leaving only early in the morning and 
late at night. 
If she sees her nest being examined she returns at 
once, uttering her hoarse rattling cry in great excitement, 
and if possible enters it. The male guards the nest and 
brings food, rarely if ever brooding the eggs. He some- 
times prepares a second and shorter burrow as a sleeping 
place for himself at a little distance from the original 
nest. 
The Kingfisher’s habit of commencing incubation as 
soon as the first egg is laid causes a great discrepancy in 
the size of the nestlings, which is doubtless increased by 
the greater attention paid to the stronger ones, who 
crowd to the front to be fed. The young are absolutely 
naked when born, and present a ludicrously top-heavy 
appearance. Nevertheless, to the eyes of their fond 
parents they are beauties, and are valiantly defended. 
I have known the mother to allow herself to be pulled 
entirely out of the burrow by her hold on a stick thrust 
in, and then turn back into it, showing fight all the way. 
The male, meanwhile, was administering a series of well- 
deserved swooping strikes with his bill on the cap of 
the tormentor. 
Unless disturbed, the pair will occupy the same nest 
year after year; and if a new one must be excavated, it 
is usually in the same bank. According to the King- 
fisher code of ethics, only one pair can fish in a stream 
or pond, and their rights are usually respected by all 
the others. 
