120 On the Kingfisher and other Birds, by Mr. Ferguson. 



or less for fifteen hours afterwards, was of an awful character, 

 and occasioned considerable loss among stock and buildings 

 in this district. 



Dr. Turnbull, of Coldstream, has informed me that at 

 Moneylaws on the other side of the Tweed — where a woman 

 was killed by the lightning, — the ice-shower was felt 

 there severely ; so that it extended much farther south than 

 mentioned in this notice. I have also been informed sirj^e 

 writing this, that a mason returning to Allanton near the Free 

 Church, during the shower, was struck on the head by a 

 piece of ice the size of a man's fist, and a severe contusion 

 of the scalp was occasioned by the blow. 



On the Kingfisher and other Birds. By John Ferguson. 



Kingfisher, Alcedo ispida.— This bird is far from being 

 uncommon on the Whitadder and its tributaries near 

 Allanton ; and I have had frequent opportunities of observ- 

 ing its habits, more particularly as respects its nidifieation. 

 In July, 1872, I discovered two nesfcs within a hundred 

 yards of each other, in a sand bank at the side of a burn 

 which flows into the Whitadder a little above Hutton Hall 

 Castle. What attracted my attention to them was the 

 quantity of excrement running out of the holes in which 

 they were. These holes were bored in the manner of a sand- 

 martin's nest into the bank, and were from two-and-a-half 

 feet to a yard in length. On inserting my hand, I found 

 three young birds in one nest and seven m the other, all 

 nearly full-feathered. They were of the same colour as the 

 old birds but the whitish bar on the shoulder was scarcely 

 so distinct. Quantities of small fish bones, which had been 

 apparently ejected from the stomachs of the birds were lying 

 strewed about at the farther end of the hole, and on these 

 the young were lying. Of the willow down and other 

 materials spoken of by some ornithologists as forming the 

 lining of the kingfisher's nest, I could find no vestige. The 

 nests themselves were quite clean, although the entrances 



