48 THE BIRDS OF RAINHAM. 



to themselves. Never was bird more welcome ; feed- 

 ing chiefly upon various species of caterpillers, they 

 seem to come and go with their favourite insect. I 

 once found on brushing round some young trees after 

 a wet night, a Cuckoo's egg in a half-built Yellow 

 Bunting's nest ; the egg was stained with the soil of 

 the field. I took it away, and in ten days the nest 

 was finished and furnished with four Yellow Bunting's 

 eggs. On another occasion I observed a young 

 Cuckoo sitting upon almost nothing under the eaves 

 of a haystack ; it had been reared by a Robin, and 

 had quite outgrown its compartment. 



KINGFISHER. 

 Alcedo ispida, Linn. 



When the Kingfishers appear in my district they 

 come in the autumn and winter, visit the marsh 

 dikes, sit upon a barway, stake or any other slight 

 projection that commands a good view of the water, 

 waiting for sticklebacks or other small fry upon which 

 they feed ; on being disturbed flying straight up the 

 course of the ditch, showing conspicuously the brilliant 

 colours which render the bird famous. 



ROLLER. 

 Coracias garrulus, Linn. 



A Roller was taken alive in our marsh on Novem- 

 ber 8th, 1888. My people were employed clamping 



