THE KINGFISHER AND ITS HOME 45 



down there her mate kept guard ; he 

 preened his wonderful plumage, and I 

 thought that I had never seen such a 

 blaze of glorious green and blue as that 

 which covered his little body. 



The hen was busy on the bank, she 

 was building her nest. For this she 

 required no material ; she just pecked at 

 the bank with her long beak, and as the 

 earth fell down to the bottom of the 

 hole she was boring she scratched it out 

 behind her with her feet, and a little 

 stream of fine earth was tumbling down. 

 For a long time she worked at this ; 

 sometimes her mate would help, and 

 once she flew out from the hole, settled 

 on a branch, opened her beak wide and 

 made a low plaintive note. He under- 

 stood, and a very few minutes passed 

 before the loud musical but shrill note 

 pee-e-e told her that he had returned. 

 She flew straight to him, and it was 

 pretty to see him hand her a fish. For 



