196 



THE OOLOGIST. \(p C\'^ 



perch and waits for a second chance to 

 try his skill. 



In Ontario the nesting season begins 

 early in May, and often in the last week 

 in April we may find fresh eggs. The 

 tunnel which Kingfishers occupy is dug 

 by the birds themselves near the top of 

 a bank generally overlooking water. 

 Along the Great Lakes sometimes the 

 nest is thus a hundred feet above the 

 water, while along small creeks the 

 hole may be in a bank only a few feet 

 high. Even old gravel pits a mile or 

 more from water pre sometimes chos- 

 en, but in every case the cavity is dug 

 in a soft, sandy spot, where excavation 

 is easy. The entrance to the nest is 

 seldom less than 12 or more than 13 

 inches from the top of the bank, no 

 matter what may be its height. The 

 birds go back into the earth from four 

 to eight feet according to the kind of 

 soil and the length of time at their dis- 

 posal, and then the extremity is scoop- 

 ed out large and round. The entrarce 

 is often in close proximity uto a colony 

 of Bank Swallows, but all seem to get 

 along very peaceably in the same bank. 

 The writer has never seen a nest of the 

 Kingfisher with more than one en- 

 trance, nor does he think that such has 

 ever been reported in this locality. 

 Sometimes the tunnel goes in straight 

 for a short distance and then takes a 

 new direction; and occasionally the di- 

 rection of the whole tunnel is at an an- 

 gle to the face of the bank. But in the 

 great majority of cases the hole goes in 

 perpendicularly and without a curve. 



When collecting one must examine 

 carefully every suspicious looking hole. 

 The presence of cob-web or other for- 

 eign substance in the entrance indicates 

 an old nest, but possibly near by is one 

 with a small heap of sand below it. 

 This has been thrown out lately by the 

 birds and we investigate further. Pull- 

 ing up a dried last year's stalk of the 

 common mullein ( Verbascum thapsus) 

 which generally grows in such places, 



we thrust it into the hole. If the depth 

 is five feet or more we are pretty sure 

 of an occupied nest, but if the weed- 

 stalk touches the end before accom- 

 plishing at least four feet we have 

 found a hole which is not completed, or 

 one where the soil has proven too hard 

 for the strength of the birds. If the fe- 

 male is at home she will be loath to 

 leave and may peck at, and hold onto, 

 whatever we may have inserted into 

 her excavation. Sorry will be the in- 

 experienced boy who gets his fingers 

 nipped in this way. He will find that 

 her beak is strong and sharp and he 

 may bear the mark of his encounter 

 with her for many a day. By measur- 

 ing with our weed-stalk along the top 

 of the bank we find the exact location 

 of the nest and eggs, so we dig down 

 carefully for 10 or 12 inches. When 

 the tunnel at last breaks through, some 

 of the soft mud falls in about the 'eggs, 

 but if one is careful he may take 20 sets 

 without a single accident. The pure 

 white, nearly spherical eggs are gener- 

 ally seven, one in the middle with the 

 other six around it in a circle. Some- 

 times six is a complete set, and occas- 

 ionally eight eggs are found, but al- 

 most invariably the number is seven. 

 The eggs of one set are generally uni- 

 form in shape and size, the average be- 

 ing 1.35x1.06 inches, but very rarely an 

 exception occurs in which elliptical, 

 oval and ovid eggs are all found in one 

 set. Nothing resembling a "nest" is 

 ever found, but fish scales and bones 

 are ejected by the birds in the manner 

 of Owls and other binls of prey, and 

 when incubation is advanced a filthy 

 lot of tbis stuff is generally found about 

 the eggs. The young are peculiar 

 looking birds because of their exceed- 

 ingly large heads but a strong skull is 

 absolutely necessary for birds which 

 plunge with such force into the water, 

 and which also burrow their own 

 homes in the banks. 

 The writer once scared out of their 



