HALCYONIB^, 275 



5 prise in the sea itself. In some situations in which 

 I have seen the Kingfisher fishing from the wild 

 rocks, it must in stormy weather find considerable 

 difficulty in maintaining itself; for instance, on the 

 western part of the island of Guernsey where even a 

 moderate hreeze makes sea enough to interrupt its 

 occupation, and heavy westerly gales must quite 

 put a stop to it for many days together. 



The nest of the Kingfisher is always placed in a 

 hole, generally in one dug hy itself, if its fortune has 

 placed it in a situation where it can find a bank 

 sufficiently soft to allow it to dig for itself; other- 

 wise a hole amongst the roots of alder or other trees 

 growing by the side of a stream, or a deep crevice in 

 rock, will serve its turn ; but if some such con- 

 venient place cannot be found it will quit the imme- 

 diate vicinity of water, and seek for a place further 

 off, instances being recorded of its breeding quite as 

 much as a mile from the water, in which case the 

 parent birds must have a hard time of it to supply 

 food for their ever-voracious young. It does not 

 appear quite clearly made out yet whether the King- 

 fisher builds any nest in its hole : it is confidently 

 asserted by some that it does make a nest entirely of 

 fish-bones, and it is equally confidently asserted by 

 others that these bones are not brought into the 

 hole for the purpose of building a nest, but that the 

 young ones, being fed upon fish, reject the bones in 

 the same way that Hawks reject feathers and bones, 



