182 Wonders of the Bird World 



water. I have known of a nest of the Common Kingfisher 

 (Alcedo ispidd) in the hollow of a tree in a garden in the 

 town of Maidenhead, at least half a mile from the Thames, 

 while on another occasion I visited the nesting hole of one 

 of these birds high up in Quarry Wood near Marlow. 

 Here the Kingfisher had taken advantage of a fallen tree, 

 which in its descent had torn away and exposed a sandy 

 bank. Into this the bird had tunneled, the entrance-hole 

 being concealed by one of the exposed roots, and the 

 tunnel proceeded in an irregular course over roots, and 

 under roots, till the chamber with its seven white eggs was 

 reached. We essayed first to get at the nest by digging 

 down from above, and quite five minutes had elapsed 

 before I suddenly saw the hen bird come waddling up the 

 tunnel, and before I could prevent her, she flew off through 

 the wood to the river, her beautiful blue black glittering 

 in the midst of the spring greenery of the trees, and 

 certainly one of the sights least expected in the middle of 

 a wood. What labour it would have been for the parents 

 to catch fish for the youngsters in the river below and bear 

 every one in their bills to the nest on the hill above! 



The White-breasted Kingfisher {Halcyon smyrnensis) 

 has been known in India to make its nest in the hole of 

 a well at least one hundred feet below the surface of the 

 ground, and several kinds are known to utilize ant-hills and 

 form their tunnels in the latter. Such a nesting-place is 

 here illustrated from a photograph taken by Mr. Dudley 

 Le Souef in the Cape York Peninsula of North-eastern 

 Australia. The bird which made the tunnel on this 

 occasion is the Long-tailed Kingfisher of Australia, 

 Tanysiptera sylvia, which is a beautiful species with two 

 central tail-feathers gracefully elongated and crossed. 

 These Racket-tailed Kingfishers of the genus Tanysiptera 

 are peculiar to the Molucca Islands, New Guinea, and the 

 Cape York Peninsula of North-eastern Australia, and they 



