KINGFISHERS. 49 



seldom missed by the keen-eyed bird. The or- 

 dinary manner, however, in which the King- 

 fisher captures its finny prey, is by remaining 

 quietly perched on some stump or branch over- 

 hanging the water, and then intently watching, 

 with dogged perseverance, for the favourable mo- 

 ment in which to make its plunge : it marks the 

 shoals of minnows gliding past, the trout lurkr 

 ing beneath the concealment of some stone, or 

 in the shadow of the bank, the roach and dace 

 pursuing their course. At length, attracted by a 

 floating insect, one rises to take the prize; at 

 that instant, like a shot, down descends the glit- 

 tering bird, the crystal water scarcely bubbling 

 with its plunge ; the next moment it re-appears, 

 bearing its victim in its beak, with which it re- 

 turns to its resting-place ; without loosing its 

 hold, it passes the fish between its mandibles, till 

 it has fairly grasped it by the tail ; then, by 

 striking smartly its head three or four times 

 against the branch, ends its struggles, reverses 

 its position,^ and swallows it whole." * 



The Kingfisher, as has been observed, either 

 digs, or selects a hole in some bank, as the scene 

 of its domestic economy. It is always formed in 

 an upward direction, that the accumulating mois- 

 ture may drain off at the mouth. At the end, 

 which is about three feet from the entrance, 

 quantities of fish-bones are found, ejected by the 

 parent birds, but whether these are placed there 

 with or without design, is as yet a disputed point 

 among naturalists. The prevailing opinion seems 

 to be that the castings are purposely accumu- 

 lated to form a sort of nest. Six or seven eggs 



* Pict. Museum, i. 297. 



