52 in*. BIRDS OF BERKS AND BUCKS. 



examining it. The crown of the head was white, as 

 were several feathers of both wings, and some of the 

 back, breast, and tail feathers : the lower parts of the 

 breast and back feathers were slate colour, and the 

 whole appearance of this specimen was very peculiar. 



Tribe FISSIROSTRES. Family -HALCYONID^:. 



KINGFISHER (Alcedo ispidd). In my opinion, the 

 species now before us is by far the handsomest of 

 all our indigenous birds. I love to see one of these 

 brightly-coloured Kingfishers dart by with quickly- 

 beating wing, and drop perpendicularly into the 

 placid water, to reappear immediately with a strug- 

 gling minnow. The victim is soon quieted by a sharp 

 tap against its captor's perch, to which the latter 

 invariably returns, and is then swallowed head fore- 

 most. While waiting for its finny prey, the King- 

 fisher sometimes hovers over the water after the 

 manner of the Kestrel. A few pairs annually breed 

 along the banks of the Thames, Colne, Chess, and 

 Kennett, as well as in holes in the banks of small 

 streams, and larger pieces of water. 



A pair of Kingfishers have, for several successive 

 years, built in the same hole of an old deserted sand- 

 pit in the middle of Ditton Woods. In this pit there 

 is very little water, and during a dry season it is per- 

 fectly devoid of the least damp ; yet here this pair 

 annually breed : but unfortunately the nest has been 



