Correspondence.



135



then suicided himself by poking his head through the bars and hanging himself.

He was fed practically entirely on minnows and got through about twenty a

day. No doubt he would have eaten a hundred, but twenty seemed to do him

very well, probably owing to the sedentary life he led. Occasionally, when

minnows were scarce, he had strips of raw beef cut into the size of a minnow and

dipped in water, The bottom of the cage was covered with saw dust and he had

a flower pot saucer full of water at one end. During the whole of this time he

was fed by hand, and it is to that I believe that I owe the success in keeping him.


Since then I have more than once tried to keep Kingfishers in both cages

and aviary : providing them with a vessel of water with live minnows in it. In

each case the result was the same, viz., the bird killed himself by taking headers

into the water after the fish. Unless the tank for the fish is deep enough this

will always prove the stumbling block to keeping Kingfishers in captivity.


The last one I tried was an exceedingly tame young bird, which Mr.

Galloway, of Caversham, hand-reared for me. This bird I put in one of my

out-door aviaries with one end roofed in. Along the front I placed a zinc tank

about 4ft. long, ISins. wide and 5ins. deep. The bottom of this was covered with

gravel and a number of minnows were kept in it. I arranged a small bough of a

tree about a foot above the tank for the bird to sit on to catch his fish. This he

would not do, but sat on another tree branch about 4ft. above the tank. From

this he would watch the fish for a few moments and then take a violent header.

In the end he broke his beak completely and died.


From my experience, such as it is, I have come to the conclusion that it

is possible to keep a Kingfisher in confinement either in a cage or an aviary, but

in case of a cage the bird would always have to be hand-fed (about 20 to 25

minnows a day). In an aviary a tank would have to be provided, and the correct

depth of the water and the height above it for the branch would have to be dis¬

covered, In a tank like this, far more minnows must be provided, and there

would always be the trouble of the bird clearing up the lot in a short space of

time and then having too long a fast afterwards. On the whole, I believe the

cage would behest as requiring less fish, and no chance of the bird killing him¬

self by taking headers. At a pinch, a Kingfisher will do for a meal or two on

strips of raw beef, and no doubt would do as' well on any large fresh ivater fish

cut up into small pieces and dipped in water as upon minnows.


All well, this summer I intend to have another attempt at keeping a King¬

fisher, and hope to let the readers of the Avicultural Magazine know of my

success or failure.


The old keeper of the Fish-house at the Zoo. has on several occasions tried

to keep Kingfishers, but I believe none lived more than a few months. The last

I saw was in the Waders’ Aviary near the Lions’ House. There was a com¬

paratively small zinc trough fixed to the wirework inside the aviary, about 8ft.

from the ground. At intervals, the keeper used to put a few minnows into the

tin and the bird at once flew across, seized one and flew off to the bough of a tree



