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the latter season of the year flying across the frozen rivers or crossing the snow. During the 

 autumn there is a great influx of Kingfishers into this and the neighbouring counties ; and it is 

 solely at this season one meets with them upon the coast, and then only where it is rocky and 

 consequently full of pools, in which rock-fish and crustaceans (particularly prawns) are left by 

 the receding tide ; and these afford a plentiful supply of food for the Kingfishers. I am confident 

 these birds, so found, are on their way south ; but that they linger for months in such haunts I 

 am positive, from the fact of always meeting a pair or more in the same locality. I have seen 

 them on our islands, miles out to sea, where they have taken up a temporary abode ; and I have 

 elsewhere mentioned how strangely out of place they seem in such localities, and how they roost 

 on the gunwales of boats in little companies, sitting side by side like Love-birds. They utter 

 a shrill grating whistle more frequently over the salt water than over the fresh. The returning 

 spring migration, like that of the Skua, is not performed along the east coast of Ireland, and 

 perhaps, like the Skua, takes place on the western ; but of this I have no proof." 



The Kingfisher does not appear to have ever straggled as far north as Iceland, nor has it 

 been met with in the Fseroes ; but it occurs in Scandinavia, and Mr. Collett informs me it is now and 

 again seen in the southern part of Norway. Near Christiania it was several times seen between 

 the years 1820 and 1840, but has not been met with of later years. The Rev. Mr. Schubeler 

 observed it near Fredriksstad in February 1835 ; and it has been recorded from Nedenses, in 

 Christiansand Stift, and Arendal. Professor Sundevall says that it has several times been observed 

 in Skane, in Southern Sweden ; and Nilsson states that it has occurred as far north as Hornings- 

 holm, in Sodermanland. Further, Dr. Sundstrom writes to me that it has once been met with 

 near Stockholm, and once near Gothenburg, and that it has, on reliable authority, been stated to 

 have bred in Smaland. It does not appear to have ever been met with in Finland ; but in 

 Russia, Mr. Sabanaeff informs me, it has been met with as far north as the Governments of Tula, 

 Orloff, and Voronege, but is rare in Central Russia. He found it by no means rare in the South- 

 eastern Ural, in the Perm Government, along the tributaries of the Ufa, and in the Poleffska 

 Dacha : on the eastern slope it is occasionally met with in the Kaslinsk Ural ; but he does not 

 think that it breeds there. It is met with in the Baltic Provinces ; and Borggreve says that it is 

 tolerably common throughout Northern Germany, where it is both a resident and a partial 

 migrant. Kjserbolling says that it is found singly or in pairs in Denmark and in the Danish 

 provinces, being most frequently seen in the spring and autumn; and he gives several instances 

 of its occurrence, from the dates of which it would appear that it does not breed there, 

 Mr. H. M. Labouchere informs me that it is found in Holland on all watercourses and large 

 ponds, especially where there are woods in the neighbourhood. In summer they fly singly ; but 

 after severe frosts a dozen or more of these birds are often seen to congregate on the ice. It is 

 to this fact that they owe their Dutch and German name of Ice-bird. In Belgium and France 

 it is common, and breeds in most parts of the country, but in some parts where it has been 

 much persecuted it is rapidly decreasing in numbers ; and in Portugal it is also stated by Pro- 

 fessor Barboza du Bocage to be common. Colonel Irby states (Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 68) that it "is 

 common in winter and spring near Gibraltar, and is frequently seen among the rocks on the 

 coast, and often at the ' inundation ' at the North Front. I have no record of its occurrence 

 during the breeding-season — that is, not later than the end of April. The majority arrive in 



