THE KINGFISHER AND ITS HOME 51 



If we could have penetrated the dark- 

 ness and seen the birds feeding their 

 young, we should have noticed how the 

 parent birds held the fish. Instead of 

 putting the fish down the babies' throats 

 in a haphazard manner, we should have 

 seen how the bird worked the little fish 

 about in its beak until it was holding 

 it in such a position that it was 

 able to place the fish head first down 

 the young bird's throat. If the parents 

 had attempted to give the fish to a 

 young bird tail first, it would have 

 choked it, or stuck in its throat, and so 

 the parents always hand the fish to their 

 babies head first. It is easy to tell, by 

 the size of the fish taken into the hole, 

 how the young are progressing. The 

 first week very small fish are captured, 

 the second week fish about two inches 

 long are taken in, and the third week 

 fish three inches in length are given 

 to the baby Kingfishers. In the early 



