48 THE NIGHTJARS, BEE-EATERS & KINGFISHERS. 



I said that perhaps a third species might be 

 included among the Common Birds of Bombay. 

 I meant the beautiful speckled bird (Jerdon's Pied 

 Kingfisher, Ceryle rudis), which is so common on 

 the Poona river and on all rivers and large 

 tanks and backwaters. I have seen a pair of them 

 fishing on some flooded ground near Dadar station. 

 This is the cleverest fisher of the whole tribe. It will 

 not work from a perch, but hovers like a Kestril, 

 ten or fifteen feet above the water, with its long bill 

 pointed downwards, and drops perpendicularly on 

 its prey. Jerdon says that he never saw one plunge 

 into the water and come out without a fish. 

 They always hunt in pairs, cheering each other with 

 shrill cries, and stopping now and then to rest on a 

 wall and get their breath. Like the rest, they lay 

 their eggs in holes from February to April. 



