i 3 a THE KINGFISHER 



to make a complete revolution on its axis, and this without any 

 painful effort. I purchased the bird and gave it its liberty, satisfied 

 to have discovered the propriety of the name Torquilla. 1 I may here 

 remark that the name lynx, 2 is derived from its harsh cry. Besides 

 this, the proper call-note of the bird, it utters, when disturbed in its 

 nest, another which resembles a hiss ; whence and partly, perhaps, 

 on account of the peculiar structure of its neck, it is sometimes called 

 the Snake-bird. Nest, properly speaking, it has none ; it selects 

 a hole in a decaying tree and lays its eggs on the rotten wood. 

 Its powers of calculating seem to be of a very low order. Yarrell 

 records an instance in which four sets of eggs, amounting to 

 twenty-two, were successively taken before the nest was deserted ; 

 a harsh experiment, and scarcely to be justified except on the plea 

 that they were taken by some one who gained his livelihood by 

 selling eggs, or was reduced to a strait from want of food. A similar 

 instance is recorded in the Zoologist, when the number of eggs taken 

 was also twenty-two. The Wryneck is a common bird in the south- 

 eastern counties of England and to the west as far as Somersetshire ; 

 but I have never heard its note in Devon or Cornwall ; it is rare also 

 in the northern counties. 



FAMILY ALCEDINID.E 

 THE KINGFISHER 



ALCEDO fSPIDA 



Back azure-blue ; head and wing-coverts bluish green, spotted with azure- 

 blue ; under and behind the eye a reddish band passing into white, and 

 beneath this a band of azure-green ; wings and tail greenish blue ; throat 

 white ; under plumage rusty orange-red. Length seven inches and a 

 quarter ; width ten inches. Eggs glossy white, nearly round. 



Halcyon days, every one knows, are days of peace and tranquillity, 

 when all goes smoothly, and nothing occurs to ruffle the equanimity 

 of the most irascible member of a household ; but it may not be 

 known to all my younger readers that a bird is said to be in any way 

 concerned in bringing about this happy state of things. According 

 to the ancient naturalists the Halcyon, our Kingfisher, being especi- 

 ally fond of the water and its products, chooses to have even a float- 

 ing nest. Now the surface of the sea is an unfit place whereon to 

 construct a vessel of any kind, so the Halcyon, as any other skilful 

 artisan would, puts together on land first the framework, and 



1 From the Latin torqueo, ' to twist.' 

 * Greek tvy£ from ivpa, to ' shriek.' 



