144 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



piece of earth, undermined by the action of the 

 water ; occasionally in the side of a sand-pit, or, 

 more rarely still, in a hole in a wall. The hole 

 is from one to three or four feet in length, sloping 

 upwards, and ending in a rounded chamber. The 

 bird, in some instances, excavates it, and in others 

 adopts the old nest of a Sandrnartin, or even a rat's 

 hole. General, but not numerous, in most suitable 

 parts of the United Kingdom. The bird is said to 

 be most abundant in the neighbourhood of Oxford, 

 and absent from the most northern parts of Scot- 

 land. The illustration is from a photograph taken 

 on the Mole in Surrey. 



Materials. Fish bones in variable quantities, and 

 the dry mould of the hole. 



Eggs. Five to eight, sometimes as many as ten. 

 Of a beautiful pink colour before being blown, on 

 account of the yolk showing through, but snowy- 

 white and glossy afterwards. Size about *9 by *75 in. 



Time. February, March, April, May, June, and 

 July. 



Remarks. Eesident. Notes, a shrill squeal, 

 which never fails to attract the naturalist's atten- 

 tion. Local and other names : Halcyon. Sits 

 closely, and generally betrays the whereabouts of 

 its nest by the white droppings near the entrance 

 to the hole. 



KITE, 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about 

 twenty-six inches. Beak shortish, hooked at the 

 tip, strong, and horn-coloured. Bare skin round the 

 base of the beak, and hides yellow. Head and 

 neck light grey, streaked with cinerous brown ; back 

 and wing- coverts dusky, bordered with rusty red. 



