A DISPUTED POINT. 203 



posely deposit the fish-bones " as a nest," to defend their eggs 

 from the damp earth. The discovery which has led to this 

 change, was that of a nesting-place of the Kingfisher in the 

 banks of the Thames, from which a nest and eggs were twice dug 

 out A fortnight after the first nest was taken, the female bird 

 was seen to leave the hole again, as though she had returned to 

 her old breeding quarters : a week later the hole was examined, 

 and the old bird was ascertained to be inside. " I then took," 

 says Mr. Gould, " a large mass of wool from my collecting-box, 

 aiid stuffed it to the extremity of the hole, in order to prevent 

 the eggs and nest from damage during my again laying it open 

 from above. On removing the sod, and digging down as before, 

 I came upon the cotton wool, and beneath it a well-formed nest 

 of fish-bones, the size of a small saucer, the walls of which were 

 fully half an inch thick, together with eight beautiful eggs and 

 the old female herself. This nest and eggs I removed with the 

 greatest care : and I now have the pleasure of exhibiting it to 

 the Society, before its transmission to the British Museum, the 

 proper resting-place of so interesting a bird's nest." 



By the kind permission of Mr. Gray of the British Museum, 

 we have been allowed to inspect this interesting specimen, and 

 we must say, that if it really be a nest in the proper sense of 

 the word, the difference between a bird's nest and a mere mass of 

 fish-bones and loose earth is much less than we had anticipated 

 to find it. But Mr. Gould is not merely an authority ; he is-the 

 ttighest authority on all matters ornithological, and if he is satis- 

 fied that what he has discovered is a nest, nobody else is entitled 

 to say nay. 



The Kingfisher is by no means an uncommon bird, and is 

 very generally diffused over the country. We have met with it in 

 Devonshire and also in Hampshire ; in the latter county, especially 

 in the various creeks and arms of Southampton Water, it is 

 even abundant, although it is never once mentioned, so far as we 

 remember, in White's " Selborne." In the North of England it is 

 also common ; and at Bolton in Lancashire we met with a factory 

 operative, a thorough enthusiast in ornithology, and the owner of 

 a very respectable collection of birds of his own mounting, who 

 assured us that he regularly captured a dozen or more of them 

 every season. His plan is to go early in the morning before day- 

 light to some stream known to be frequented by the bird, and 



