HOURS WITH NATURE. 



would be adding something to the knowledge of the 

 ways and habits of animals of our country. 



This kingfisher has evidently a wide distribution. I 

 have seen, it about almost every river that I have fre- 

 quented. The jungle-clad banks of the Brahmaputra 

 and the Megna and the thick forests of the Sunderbuns 

 appear to be its favorite haunts. While ferrying some 

 Mughs across a creek in the Jessore Sunderbuns, I asked 

 them if they knew that bird, meaning a Gureal which 

 had just caught a crab. Yes, they were abundant in 

 their country, they said. You know perhaps that Arrakan 

 is the country of the Mughs. 



The bird which you just saw an-d which farmed 

 the subject of discussion among you, is also a king- 

 fisher and a near relation of the Gureal, although 

 its beak is not so large as that of the latter bird. It is 

 very common in Bengal and prefers to keep near human 

 habitatjons rather than where forests are thick. 



There is another kind of large-billed kingfisher which 

 I have constantly seen in large numbers in the Sunder- 

 buns. The beautiful sky-bine colour of the back con- 

 trasts very effectively with the brown and green of the 

 rest of its plumage. It is not rare in Calcutta either, as 

 1 4iave often seen one or two flitting about in the trees 

 near the Prinsep's ghat. Mughs tell me that it is also 

 common in their country. 



Did I not hear one of you gentlemen asserting that 

 the kingfisher is a small bird ? Yes, indeed, there are 

 small kingfishers as well as large kingfishers. Whe- 



