64 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



out should he attempt to measure it with the in- 

 tention to steal the eggs or young ones. The boy 

 will hardly reach the nest-chamber, but he will 

 go far enough to wish he had n't tried. King- 

 fishers often line their tunnels and the nest- 

 chambers with bones and things they have swal- 

 lowed, which their stomachs have no use for. Of 

 course, these things decay, and make a very un- 

 pleasant odor, as well as disagreeable stuff to 

 handle. 



The kingfishers dig their tunnels sloping up- 

 ward, so the rain from above, soaking down 

 through the soil, will run out and not drown the 

 young birds. When the tunnel is long enough, 

 the mother lays as many eggs as the space at the 

 end will hold, there may be six or eight, and 

 here the birdlings are hatched, quite naked. 

 They are fed on the best fish to be caught, and 

 grow rapidly. In a few days they get their first 

 coats of feathers. Most swimming and diving 

 birds have a coat of down all their lives, under 

 their outside feathers. It keeps them warm. 



Kingfishers are said to keep the same nesting- 

 place for years, where they are not disturbed. Of 

 course, they must have a house-cleaning at times, 

 else the tunnels would get filled with litter. As 

 to this, we need not bother ourselves, for the king- 

 fishers know their own business. 



