KINGFISHERS 163 



finding it a hard task to sustain the weight of the 

 great head and monstrous dull-red beak. Only 

 just before it ceases, on approaching a perch, does it 

 assume a more seemly character as the bird sweeps 

 round on widely spread and apparently motionless 

 wings. When about to call they sit up very erect, 

 and spread their great wings so as to show all the 

 shining azure of the back and the greenish-blue 

 quills to the fullest advantage ; exhibiting as they 

 do so a strange association of splendid colouring 

 with heavy, ungainly form. 



In the thickly-wooded country of the suburbs 

 of Calcutta, where ponds and swampy hollows 

 everywhere abound, and devious lanes are tunnelled 

 through heavy masses of foliage, garials are con- 

 stantly to be met with, and often nest in 

 burrows excavated in the mouldering walls of 

 the mud-huts that lie buried in the jungle. They 

 are the easiest of all the common kingfishers to keep 

 in good condition in captivity ; a fact that there were 

 frequent opportunities of ascertaining in the Zoo- 

 logical Garden in Alipur, as families of nestlings 

 were often brought in for sale by the natives of 

 the outlying villages. Unfortunately, they are not 

 at all attractive pets, as they are very dull and 

 sluggish, and seem never to utter their peculiar call 

 when in captivity. 



Another kingfisher that sometimes makes brief 

 visits to gardens is the black and white Ceryle 



