158 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



enough of these " to go round," all the kingfishers 

 would be near at hand. They seem quite content to 

 come within the limits of large towns, provided there 

 is an abundance of food and the ubiquitous small 

 boy is not too inquisitive. 



The following is Dr. J. M. Wheaton's account of 

 the nesting habits of the kingfisher as observed by 

 him in Ohio, and it is applicable to the bird where- 

 soever found : 



" The nest of the Kingfisher is an excavation in the face of a high 

 bank of a stream or side of an artificial excavation. The entrance 

 is usually within a couple of feet below the top of the bank and ex- 

 tends inward, usually straight, but sometimes with an angle, from 

 three to six feet. Usually no nest is made, but near the extremity 

 the eggs are deposited in the midst of fish-bones disgorged and ex- 

 creted. The eggs are from five to seven, usually six, nearly spheri- 

 cal, clear shining white, and of very dense texture. They measure 

 1.30 by 1.05. The birds are very much attached to their nesting- 

 site. One nest on the bank of a gravel-pit I have dug down upon 

 for several successive years, and the birds are not yet inclined to 

 desert the spot. Another bank occupied by these birds was re- 

 moved by a freshet, and a large sycamore-tree which stood upon it 

 was carried into the middle of the stream, where it remained with 

 large quantities of earth adhering to the roots. In this earth the 

 birds made a tortuous and difficult excavation, and successfully raised 

 their young." 



The Carolina Paroquet, which belongs to a different 

 order from the preceding, but is next to it in the 

 system of classification, will be but briefly considered. 



Ridgway, in the Manual, states : 



" Formerly, entire Mississippi Valley, Gulf States, and Southern 

 Atlantic States, north (casually ?) to Michigan, Maryland, or even to 

 Albany, New York, regularly to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, 

 etc., west to Eastern Colorado and Texas ; now nearly exterminated, 



