on the Kingfisher.



149



he jumps into his water vessel, he never seems to get properly dry.

but when fit and well he could dive into a bucket of water and out

again on the edge of the pail and look as if he had never been under

water. Mine was very tame and I used to put a few minnows in a

bucket occasionally and carry him on my finger and place him on

the edge of the bucket, he would sit bobbing his head up and down

for a time, and when he had a chance of getting a fish, he would

shoot in under and out again like a flash and give himself a shake

and was quite dry ; sometimes he brought our a fish and sometimes

missed it. It is of course natural for these birds to dive, and I am

certain a tame Kingfisher requires this exercise.


I consider a Kingfisher is not a difficult bird to keep in health,

so long as live fish can be got for it, but there are times, for instance

when the river is in flood, when fish cannot be found; at other

times brooks in winter may become frozen over, and in winter when

the river is muddy it is almost impossible to find small fish. Then,

again, in the close season the fish cannot be had, but there is a way

of overcoming this difficulty of food supply, and this is the way I

should advise anyone to proceed who wishes to keep a Kingfisher in

perfect trim in captivity.


First of all, the ideal place for him would be to net over a small

pond, but everyone is not blessed with a small pond on his premises.

However, the next best thing is to make a pond 18 inches deep; it

need not be wide, but it should be as long as the purse will admit,

so that the bird can get a straight flight, and of course wired over.

At one end a bank could be formed of earth and sand beaten firm,

in this bank a hole should be scooped out about two feet through ;

outside the hole a dead bough could be fixed, where the bird could

perch on before entering the hole, in which place it would be sure

to roost. On the top of the bank an inch of concrete could be

placed, and over this a thin coating of cement; this would allow

the heavy rains to run off and keep the bank fairly dry, a few turfs

could be put on top and hide the cement. A few feet from the

bank some large branches could be fixed so as to hang over the

artificial brook, and another set of branches arranged the same way

the other end ; better and more natural still would be to place the

heads of small dead pollards in place of the boughs, but no other



