22 KINGFISHERS, SCARCITY OF 



else, it is so impenetrable, close and hard, that 

 nothing can possiblie enter in ; no, not so much as 

 the sea water." 



I have never seen a kingfisher's nest, but the 

 foregoing remarks evidently apply to the larger 

 species a sea-going bird specially found on the 

 Sicilian coast and this is, of course, the legendary 

 bird about which so much classic and poetic lore 

 clusters. 



The smaller bird, familiar to all anglers on our 

 rivers, builds its nest in the bank in a hole dug 

 out by itself, and it is generally found to be lined 

 with fish-bones, and becomes very offensive by the 

 time the young ones are fledged. It has been 

 stated that they nest in old rat-holes, but I fancy 

 this bird is too independent and ingenious not to be 

 able to make a nest for itself. Dr. Bull, describing 

 a nest found by himself, says 



" The hole here was in a perpendicular bank, six 

 feet above the ordinary water-level. The entrance 

 was oval in shape, two inches and three-quarters 

 perpendicularly, and two inches and a half in its 

 horizontal diameter. It was placed about a foot 

 below the surface, was two feet in length, and in- 

 clined upwards to within two inches of the surface. 

 Here a wide space, some six inches in diameter, was 

 hollowed out for the nest of fish-bones. . . . The 

 nest of a kingfisher is often discovered by a dog 

 scenting its 'ancient fish-like smell' through the 

 soil." 



