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Nesting oj the Laughing Kingfisher.



weeks old, this time it had developed well and had feathers all

over the body. The wing feathers were well advanced, and when

looked at on the last two occasions it made a very loud terrified

noise, which caused the parents to investigate and me to beat a

hasty retreat. Consequently it was not possible for me to take

proper notes and I must apologise to our readers accordingly.


When four weeks old the youngster left the nest, and im¬

mediately joined its parents in the outer flight, flying with ease

on to the perches, which are seven feet high, and occasionally

resting on the ground under a large Box bush to shelter from the

extreme heat. We never saw it go back to the nest ; it would,

however, occasionally fly indoors but only for a few minutes at

the time.


It appeared to me astonishing the amount of food that was

required during the day to keep the little one quiet. I gave as

large a variety as possible, which consisted of all caterpillars

that I could get, mealworms, very small pieces of fresh fish, mice,

rabbits, sparrows, sheep’s heart, well-cleaned gentles and small

frogs. At the age of four weeks it could eat small mice whole,

and when a large mouse was given, it was amusing to see how it

would be knocked against the perch, after the manner of the

parents going through the process of killing. I have never once

seen the female feed the baby. She sat on the perch calmly

looking on, and sometimes she would have a good hearty laugh

by way of approval of the way her mate carried out his domestic

affairs.


Although the baby could fly well when it emerged from

the nest, its tail-feathers had only grown about one inch. This I

consider worth mentioning, as doubtless the reason is that they

would get broken or badly soiled in the nest. The bill is all dark

brown ; eyes, black ; feet, flesh colour ; breast and all underparts

creamy-white, thickly covered with very fine light brown, hori¬

zontal bars; mantle and wings like the parents with one exception,

instead of blue on the wing-bars it is light grey.


I need hardly say that the old birds are very proud of the

young, and do not hesitate to have a go at any bird that ventures

too close to it, even making most determined stoops at a six-foot

man who usually attends to their daily wants.



