INSESSORES. ALCEDO. 137 



the banks of the streams they haunt, either digging a hole 

 themselves, or taking possession of that of a water-rat, which 

 they afterwards enlarge to suit their convenience. The bear- 

 ing of the hole is always diagonally upwards, and it pierces 

 two or three feet into the bank. The nest is composed of Nest, &c. 

 the above-mentioned pellets of fish-bones, ejected into a small 

 cavity at the farther end of this retreat, and upon which the 

 eggs are laid, to the number of six or seven, of a transparent 

 pinkish-white. MONTAGU remarks, that the hole in which 

 they breed is not fouled by the castings of the old birds, but 

 becomes so by the droppings of the brood, which, being of 

 a watery nature, cannot be carried away by the parents, as 

 is usual with most small birds. Instinct has therefore taught 

 them to make the hole in a sloping direction, in order to carry 

 away the offensive matter, which may frequently be seen is- 

 suing from the entrance of this passage to the nest. 



The young, when nearly fledged, are very voracious, and 

 often reveal their habitation by their continued cry. 



Attempts have been sometimes made to rear the KingV 

 fisher in a state of confinement, but generally without suc- 

 cess ; as it will not live without a full supply of fresh fish, 

 which it is difficult to procure at all seasons. Worms have 

 been tried as a substitute, but without answering the in- 

 tended purpose. For an account of the poetic fictions, and 

 stories of earlier times relating to the Halcyon, my readers 

 are referred to PENNANT'S account of this bird in his British 

 Zoology. 



This is the only species of an extensive genus that is found 

 in Europe, throughout which it is generally dispersed ; and 

 it differs in no respect from the same bird in Asia and Africa, 

 as I have had an opportunity of examining specimens from 

 both Continents. 



PLATE 40. Fig. 1. Natural size. 



Bill blackish-brown, reddish at the base. Behind each eye General 



is a patch of light orange-brown, succeeded by a white 



5 



