-::' 



HAI.f'YONMn.K. 



10 



CosUo dl 



Paradiao, IVeeator*, Pesca 

 Baacte Maria, and Vttrioto, 

 . Madonna. t'oorflo 

 according to Prince 



fcsMa Maria, rVtBWao, ead AloioM, of the 



C L. B.iiiirti.- Omm*,* Ksmtjei (Beobsteio), and Grosser, Kleiner 

 a r>ii sttfuel (Brtfcm). of th. OtrmsiM; GUs y dorian of 

 Ik* Wetefc, MM! OoestMi KmyiitVr of UM Kngmh. 



this **> if OM of UM bb* Mmed 'AAinsir (Halcyon) or 

 try.>-*r some of the lestM 



< Atry.>-*r 



Mid to SMlnm or not by Aristotle end UM Greeks, is by no 

 mean* satisfactorily made out, though UM better opinion seems to 

 to that it M UM 'AJue tfmmt of the Greek soologist, Belon and 

 ISamX think the* His; KMn and M. De Bomare, on the contrary 



re* with theen). eoMJdtr it at doubtful which 



kg flH UnjniaJ kVl 



oror iti poetical floating nest have became 



:- 



:-BUl blackish-brown, reddish at 

 _1 each eye is a patch of li(ht orange-brown, succeeded 

 by a white otw ; from each comer of the under mandible proceeds a 

 etreak of wrditer-bm*. tinged with vrdigrir*en ; crown of the 

 toad deep opvs green, ttofc nil i tipped with rerdigri^green ; from 

 to MM of UM neck to UM tail is a strip of rerditer-blue feathers, 



- bsosBeitodeewithverdigravgreen; chin and throat yellowith- 



brsaM, belly, and vent orange-brown, palest towards the 

 teil-eoTtrt* ; tail greenish-blue ; the abaft* of the feathers 

 pale tilted. (Selby.) 



Tto uvL. ars baa*); UM bin of UM female U not so long as in the 

 othtr sex ; the colours also are deeper and more of a green ihade. 



'..... ..... 



llM bank* <4 RT.TS. ehMy tboe. wUeh bfc 

 fi; **wib.ui4.tMttberof U OBI I 

 Ml besatiral trammit while. The MI 



Betting aside the table of the floating crmdle in which during the 

 I day* UM bird WM eaid to rear iU young, we ahall find that 

 have diflsmd not a little a* to UM actual nt of tin. 

 ye that it make* iU nest in hole* in the 

 depth of 3 feet, and in holee in 

 eh before belonged to the water- 

 i oggi to b* from five to nine, of 

 I tmparcnt whit*. Tbe Met, he adds, U rery fetid. 

 it the* refers to Aristotle's description of the nest of the 'AAveV 

 * Halcyon. In which UM Utter state* that it reeembled 

 pMrM onoretieMtsstt an formed by UM sea- water (a\ra'yv>, 

 UMt H Mlow wMMm, that UM cntmnoe wme rery narrow, ao thai 

 IM eb<mU IBMM, UM eea would not enter ; that it reeked any violence 

 tnm ITM. but yWded to a blow of UM hand, and when that broken 

 w **r**'"'^ powdw. and that it wat compoeed of the boo*. 

 ef UM aUr (rMoo.1. a M-fleh eo named-far the bird lirm on ftth. 

 Art-MbUMi eMee UM Mber of . at five or thereabout. ( Hiet. 

 * >> P-MBt. who, ee w, have obeerved, contidert the 

 



*f "*.**"' ""fr"" 11 MOT. onotod 

 yk Ttofcrsiof UM Met, to "aitiki.t) 



to be founded on 



HN|h .!. 

 The maUriak, which 



<* * l > " eoesBiised of, are not entirely of hi* 

 eyn HiMljitl Whoever toe eeen UM neet of UM king&ther will 



atTL^T* 1 "** "* '" Bd "* * *** *"S,nnente of 

 *...Wd ef UM OWMT t^ lie rmn, ; ^ Uee wto denytt^t I. a 

 UM sea nsnat ** oonAn* " '- M_. 



to oar 



obeerimtfaMfai the eeM, and allow, that 



" e*Ht ana allows Mat 



StTSJSTJ'.?!^ rilr *^ I"**''/ to breed, forweUarn 

 "**"* >* elnMto, Italy, Hbr~d. i. May, in banks 

 * "? " UM see.; and having brought up the first 

 ^. U !* ^r^ t V a second time." Now, It will 

 to.hisrviJttoaptii il, hhls own description of UM IML ^ 



W^cv^ltoT SM-Z t^ow? 

 of aethsu be* UM toU end UM 



and though Zimi*iii 



gives a very good description of tbe excavated hole, he speaks with 

 caution of the collection of flab-remains therein ; for though, he say*, 

 of UM " eoaglie di peed " with which the nest was covered, " restrano 

 vagamente intrecciate," he adds, " ma forte non sono con diaposto ad 

 arte, bens) per accident*," showing that be thought their disposi- 

 tion about the nest was probably more the result of accident than 



Montagu, in his 'Ornithological Dictionary,' says that the bird , 

 generally takes possession of a rat's hole to deposit its eggs ; he then 

 proceeds as follow* : " The many curious account* which have been 

 given of the neet of this bird induced us to take some pains to discover 

 tbe fact. Tbe result of our researches are (is), that the hole chosen 

 to breed in is always ascending, and generally 2 or 3 feet in the bank ; 

 at UM end i* scooped a hollow, at the bottom of which is a quantity 

 of small flab-bones, nearly half an inch thick, mixed in with the earth. 

 This is undoubtedly tbe castings of the parent birds, and not the 

 young, for we have found it even before they have eggs, and have 

 every reason to believe that both male and female go to that spot, fur 

 no other purpose than to eject this matter, for tome time before the 

 female begins to lay, and that they dry it by tbe heat of their bodies, 

 as they are frequently known to continue in the hole for hours, long 

 before they have egg*. On this disgorged matter the female lays to 

 the number of seven eggs, which are perfectly white and transparent, 

 of a short oval form, weighing about one dram. The hole in which 

 they breed is by no means fouled by tbe casting* ; but before the 

 young are able to fly it become* extremely fetid by the freest of the 

 brood, which is (are) of a watery nature, and cannot be carried away 

 by the parent bird*, as is common with most of the smaller species. 

 In defect of which, instinct has taught them to have the entrance of 

 their habitation ascending, by which means the filthy matter runs off, 

 and may frequently be seen on the outside. We never could observe 

 the old birds with anything in their bills when they went to feed their 

 young ; from which it may beconcluded they eject from their stomach 

 for that purpose." 



Mr. Selby, after noticing the ejection of bones and other indigestible 

 parts, in pellets, by the mouth of these birds, goes on to state that 

 they breed in the banks of the streams they haunt, either digging a 

 hole themselves, or taking possession of that of a water-rat, which they 

 afterwards enlarge to suit their convenience. He then proceeds as 

 follows : " The bearing of the hole is always diagonally upwards, 

 and it pierces two or three feet into the bank. The nest is composed 

 of tbe above mentioned pellet* of fish-bone*, ejected into a small 

 cavity at the farther end of this retreat, and upon which the eggs are 

 laid, to the number of six or seven, of a transparent pinkish- 

 white." He then quotes the remarks of Montagu on the sloping 

 direction of the hole, and the use of that direction in carrying away 

 offensive matter. (' Illustrations of British Ornithology,' vol. I) 



Mr. Rennie, in hi* edition of Montagu's ' Dictionary, observes, that 

 from the high authority of Montagu, the description above given has 

 been copied by every recent writer, with tbe exception of Temminck,* 

 who aays nothing on the subject, and Wilson, who says (' Am. Ora.,' 

 Hi. 60), of his Belted Kingfisher (Alctdo Alcyon), that " its nest is 

 neither constructed of glue nor fish-bones." Mr. Kennie then pro- 

 ceeds thus : " We are certain of the fact that this will apply equally 

 to our own kingfisher. In the bank of a stream at Lee in Kent, we 

 have been acquainted with one of these nests in the same hole for 

 several successive summers, but so far from the exuvisj of fish-bones 

 ejected, as i* done by all bird* of pray, being dried on purpose to 

 form the neet, they are scattered about the floor of the hole in all 

 directions, from its entrance to its termination, without the least order 

 or working up with the earth, and all moitt and fetid. That the eggs 

 may by accident be laid upon portions of these fiah-bones is highly 

 probable, as the floor is so thickly strewed with them that no vacant 

 spot might be found, but they assuredly are not by design built up 

 into a nest The hole is from 2 to 4 feet long, sloping upwards, 

 narrow at the entrance, but widening in the interior, in order perhaps 

 to give the birds room to turn, and for the same apparent reason the 

 ens are not placed at the extremity. I am not a little sceptical at 

 to ita sometime* aaWnting the old bole of a water-rat, which is the 

 deadly enemy to its eggs and young ; but it seems to indicate a dislike 

 to the labour of digging. It frequents the same hole for a series of 

 yean, and will not abandon it, though the nest be repeatedly plundered 

 of UM eggs or young. Tbe accumulation of cast-bones in one of 

 these old bole* ha* perhaps give origin to the notion of the nest being 

 formed of them." 



Mr. Gould, in his ' Birds of Europe,' states that the eggs nre 

 deposited in a hole, such as those above alluded to, by the female, 

 without making any nest 



Small Mb, each so Sticklebacks and Minnows, form the food of 

 the Kingfisher principally, but M. Temminck and Mr. Itennie say 

 that the bird will also eat fry or spawn (frai), slugs, worms, and 



It siu immoveable on some overhanging twig, watching for ita 



But Trmminrk ( Minor],' 1]0) tip that the bird nr.tlo In holri in I ho 

 k, man frequently In tbote abandoned b]r tbe waler.raU, iiluni? the abrupt 

 bMk> of river., often aadcr the roou of Uw, In tbe holtowt of tree., and 

 """'lam in UM bolt* of rocks, and tbst it lays from six to eight eggs of a 

 wajl*. 



