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71 



Another instance occurred more recently at Wanganui, where, according to a local paper, the 

 family of the Rev. C. H. S. NichoUs were startled one day at dinner by the entrance of a King- 

 fisher, which "flew through a pane of glass in one of the windows, scattering the fragments 

 around," and was forthwith made prisoner by the household cat. 



Its food consists of lizards, small fish, grubs, earthworms, locusts, insects of all kmds, and 



On examining a young Kingfisher just taken from the nest, I observed the tail of a 

 half-grown mouse protruding from its bill ; and on taking hold of it I drew the unmutilated 

 carcass of the rodent from the throat of the bird. I was not previously aware that mice formed 

 part of the Kingfisher's bill of fare. I have often, however, witnessed its fondness for lizards, two 



even mice. 



(Mocoa zelandica and M, 



I 



have seen it seize the nimble little reptile by the tail, and after battering its head against a stone 

 or the branch of a tree, to destroy life, swallow the captive, head foremost. It has been known to 

 attack and kill chickens in the poultry-yard. On one occasion, at Otaki, I saw one of these birds 

 dart down into the midst of a very young clutch ; but the old barn-door hen proved too active, and, 

 with one rapid stroke of her bill, put the assailant liors de combat. The bird was picked up 

 stunned with the blow, but soon after, recovering itself, escaped from the hands of its captor. 

 In Wanganui it provoked the hostility of the Acclimatization Society by preying on the young of 

 the House-Sparrow (Passer domesUcus\ which had been introduced at much expense ; and the 

 Committee encouraged a crusade against the offenders by offering a premium for Kingfishers' 

 heads. According to the Report of the Auckland Acclimatization Society for 1868-69, it has 

 proved very troublesome in destroying birds, and has even attacked and killed a Californian 

 Quail. In Otago it has been accused of purloining the speckled trout ; and in Canterbury it was 

 found necessary to protect the newly hatched fish by stretching wire netting over the shallow 

 artificial streams. A valued correspondent, and very careful observer, informs me that on one 

 occasion he killed a blackfish about twelve feet long in Whangarei harbour, and dragged it 

 ashore ; and on visiting the place a few days later, he observed an unusual number of Kingfishers 

 present. On watching them, he found that they were preying on the swarms of flies attracted by 

 the dead cetacean, darting after them with the swiftness of an arrow, and capturing them on the 

 wing. 



When engaged in fishing, it does not plunge into the stream, like the common British 

 Kingfisher, but dips into it lightly as it skims the surface of the water or darts downwards from 

 its post of observation on a rock or overhanging branch. 



The New-Zealand Kingfisher commences to breed towards the end of November or early in 

 December, usually selecting for its nesting-operations a tree denuded of its bark and decayed at 

 heart, standing near the margin of the forest or in an old Maori clearing. By means of its 

 powerful bill it cuts a round passage through the hard exterior surface, and then scoops out a 

 deep cavity, proceeding in a horizontal direction for several inches, and .then downwards to an 

 extent of ten inches or more. The bird thus instinctively protects its chamber from the inclem- 

 encies of the weather. There is no further attempt at forming a nest, the eggs being deposited 

 on a layer of pulverized decayed wood, the shavings and sawdust, so to speak, of the borer's ope- 

 rations in finishing the cavity. The eggs are generally five in number, sometimes six, broadly 

 oval in form, and measuring 1'2 inch by '95, They are of the purest white, with a smooth or 



