222 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XI. 
at all events, are capable of emitting the note of the adult, 
as one of them demonstrated very successfully when I took 
them out of the nest. 
From the first time I looked at the young to the last their 
hind toes were firmly pressed against the back of the tarsus, 
a peculiarity I have failed to notice with any other species. 
The mouth, which was at first flesh-coloured, got considerably 
darker as the birds grew older. At the age of 12-14 days 
they were completely clothed in feather sheaths, the tips of 
the feathers just showing, those on the breast being a dirty 
grey with a pale red tinge, the rest, except for a patch behind 
the eye, a dark slaty blue. Two of the brood disappeared 
between the 16th and 20th days of life. One was found 
drowned further down the stream, the other probably shared 
a similar fate. The remaining three left the nest on August 
3lst or September Ist. 
The bones in the nest rapidly accumulated towards the end. 
Why these were so few at the commencement, since this was ° 
the second brood, I cannot say, unless the burrow was cleaned 
out by the parents after the first brood had flown. 
The old birds came to the nest at approximately half-hour 
intervals. For the first fortnight they apparently carried no 
food ; certainly they brought no fish. Twice, when the bird 
was quite close to me before entering the nest, I imagined that 
I saw something in the beak, but I am not at all sure. This, 
as Pycraft points out (Kirkman’s British Bird Book), is at the 
bottom of the widely-accepted view that Kingfishers feed their 
young at first by regurgitation. But if this be so it ceases 
when the nestlings are about a fortnight old, for whole fish 
are thence onwards brought in. Personally I am inclined 
to think that the young are fed in the normal manner through- 
out, possibly at first on crustacea. When fish were brought, — 
the intervals between feedings seemed to me to be longer 
than previously. 
Apparently one bird hunted up stream and the other down. 
I never saw them break this rule. One day, before I had 
my hide-up, I lay in the trunk of an old willow about thirty 
yards away from the nest, up stream. On one visit the 
bird that hunted from this end flew over the tree, instead 
of under it, and noticed me. She emitted her alarm-note 
two or three times as she flew past the nest, and settled on 
a projecting root far beyond it, whence she soon returned 
to the nest and flew in. After a minute she came out again, 
but returned, as always, up stream, this time making a 
detour across the meadow to avoid me. 
a 
