230 HALCYONID^. 



relates in his Gleanings that, in the summer of 1834, one of 

 the workmen employed in the gardens of Hampton Court 

 Palace, discovered a Kingfisher's nest in the bank of a 

 small gravel -pit in the Wilderness of that place, and within 

 a short distance of the public footpath leading through it, 

 and which is much frequented. There were six eggs in 

 the nest, which was composed as usual of small fish-bones, 

 and was placed about two feet in the bank. The small 

 gravel-pit was perfectly dry, and the workmen were in 

 the constant habit of throwing the sweepings of the garden 

 into it. The old birds showed but little fear of the work- 

 men, and this led to the discovery of the nest. 



Kingfishers, like many other birds, possess the power of 

 bringing up the contents of the stomach at pleasure. This 

 faculty is very useful to them in reference to their nestlings, 

 enabling the parent birds not only to bring home a larger 

 quantity of food than they could otherwise carry, but also 

 of partially preparing that food, and thus rendering it more 

 suitable to the tender stomachs of their infant brood. This 

 power of emptying the stomach is at other times only 

 exercised to discharge the more indigestible portions of the 

 food they swallow, as noticed in all the birds of prey, as 

 also in the Shrikes, and some other birds which occasion- 

 ally feed on large coleopterous insects. The rejection by 

 the Kingfisher appears to be performed frequently when 

 the bird is in the hole chosen as an abode, the whole 

 ground surface of which is sometimes covered with bones 

 of small fishes, and upon these bones the female deposits 

 her eggs, generally from five to seven in number, of a short 

 oval form, almost round, measuring ten lines and a half in 

 length, by nine lines in breadth, of a smooth and shining 

 white when blown, but previously exhibiting a delicate 

 pink tinge from the influence of the colour of the yelk, 

 which pervades the transparent albumen and thin shell. 



