, 
you. x1.) NOTES ON THE KINGFISHER. 219 
On what date the birds laid again I do not know, but their 
second clutch of five eggs hatched out on August 3rd or 4th. 
During the rearing of this brood I paid the birds a number 
of visits. 
The nesting-hole, two feet above water-level, is directly 
opposite the main part of the farmyard, where men, horses, 
poultry, and creaking carts and farm implements make the 
place noisy throughout the day. The stream is only about 
twenty feet broad, and just on the other side is a shed in which 
pig-food is prepared. (This proved useful later on for observa- 
tion.) From here men tramp twice a day, backwards and 
forwards, to feed the pigs. The required water is scooped up 
from the stream exactly opposite the nesting-hole. The 
perpetual clanking of pails would, I should have imagined, 
prove obnoxious to these birds, yet they were content to 
breed here for a second year. I have known this place for 
eleven years, and never saw a Kingfisher in the neighbourhood 
till last year. That they nested here, and used the same 
- hole as this season, was demonstrated by the similar behaviour 
of the birds in connection with the same perch. Moreover, I 
have searched the banks carefully, and found no other possible 
hole. 
More than that, they reared a second brood, and this 
despite the fact that the roof of their home was frequently 
being lifted for inspection of their first family. 
There seems to be some difference of opinion on the subject 
of double broods with Kingfishers. Howard Saunders 
(Manual, p. 280) definitely states that two broods are produced 
in some seasons, and Jourdain (British Bird Book, I, p. 448) 
also says that a second brood is often reared, but Newton 
(Yarrell, Il, p. 447) speaks of definite proof as still lacking. 
KE. Eykyn (Wild Life, Vol. V., No. 1) states dogmatically 
that they never rear a second brood. Yet here is an instance 
beyond doubt. For the producers of the first family which 
chose a farmyard as a nesting-site were in possession of 
this territory, and it is against all the laws of chance that a 
second pair of birds of such relative rarity should not only 
breed in the same ground but should also choose the same 
site directly afterwards. But apart from this, even if 
Kingfishers do use ready-made holes, a point that still 
requires proof, they would surely not adopt one with a leaky 
roof. 
Incidentally, this second clutch affords the latest nesting- 
date with which I am acquainted for this species. The 
birds were actually sitting on eggs in August, 
