KINGFISHER. 317 



of 1863, enabled to gratify my curiosity in this respect, 

 and compare my own observations with the many and 

 contradictory statements I had previously read. The 

 pretty stream at Keswick, near Norwich, has always 

 been a favourite resort of this species, and having 

 mentioned my desire to procure a nest to my friend Mr. 

 Thomas Edwards, he kindly sent me word on the 20th 

 of April, that one had been discovered that morning in 

 the bank of a drain at the back of Mrs. Birkbeck's 

 residence. I was soon there, and found that some men 

 employed in cleaning out the meadow drains (the water 

 being very low at the time) had watched a pair of 

 kingfishers passing in and out of a hole in a bank, 

 and were sure from their actions that it contained 

 a nest. The drain or 'dyke,' as it is called in Nor- 

 folk, was rather wide, and the hole, which I should 

 certainly have taken for a rat's, was about a foot below 

 the top of the bank, and the same distance from the 

 water. We first took the precaution to introduce some 

 paper into this aperture spreading it over the eggs, 

 to prevent the soil from crumbling into the nest, and 

 then dug carefully down upon the paper, extracting a 

 large circular piece of turf, but, in spite of all our 

 precautions, the earth, owing to a long continued 

 drought, was too friable to be kept from partially fall- 

 ing in. Carefully brushing this away, and removing 

 the paper, we discovered the nest, for such with its 

 raised sides it might fairly be called, occupying 

 a round chamber at the upper end of the passage 

 which sloped gradually upward from the point of 

 entrance. From the mouth of the hole to the circular 

 bed was about two feet, and the chamber containing the 

 nest itself was about six or eight inches in diameter, and 

 completely filled with the remains of fish in every stage 

 of decomposition. The eggs, seven in number, exhibiting 

 the usual pinky hue of the yolk showing through their 



