CHAP. v.J PUGNACITY. 307 



purposes. Their dejections are highly offensive, and 

 are voided from them with considerable force ; and this 

 it is which gives to their nest the horrid and disgusting 

 odour of which naturalists justly complain. 



" If you have never brought up young Kingfishers, 

 you would be astonished how large fish they are capable 

 of swallowing. In feeding them I have often given 

 them a bleak or a dace as long as their entire body, in- 

 cluding beak and tail ; and, in swallowing it, it seemed 

 as if the fish encircled their whole body, while during 

 the feasting they set up a peculiar burring sound, in 

 which the whole nest joins, forming a not unmusical 

 chorus. 



" I have had as many as seven young birds in one 

 nest, all of which I have brought up and kept until the 

 following spring, when battles ensue amongst them, 

 which are kept up incessantly until one only remains 

 the victor, and a-11 the rest have perished in the deadly 

 conflict. I have watched them pursue each other until 

 at last, by one grand dart, the one has transfixed the 

 other to the ground, and flown away triumphant. This 

 I have observed in several broods that I have suc- 

 cessively brought up, but all with the like result, occa- 

 sioned no doubt by a wisely-ordained instinct, that each 

 might find its own separate location and dependence. 

 The same pugnacious propensity is seen in many tribes 

 of birds that have a voracious appetite, showing that a 

 very wild field is required for their support. 



"They obtain their prey evidently from sight alone, 

 and I have often wondered how they have managed 

 when the streams are constantly muddy from the fre- 

 quent rains, for in confinement they will not bear 

 starvation. It is said they feed on insects ; I have 



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