COMMON KINGFISHER. 345 



are fed assiduously. Mr. Carter says that he has watched them carry fish 

 to their young every quarter of an hour, and that he once found a loach 

 S^ inches long laid in the mouth of a hole containing young. When able 

 to leave the nest they are fed and tended for some time by their parents. 

 They take up their stations on the bushes or stumps near their birthplace, 

 and there wait for the food which is being brought every few minutes by 

 the old birds. When able to forage for themselves they are driven ofE by 

 their parents, compelled to seek haunts for themselves, and it is possible 

 that many of these young birds wander southwards in the autumn. 



In Western and Southern Europe the migrations of the Kingfisher are 

 confined to short journeys in search of food. As soon as its fishing-grounds 

 are frozen, it is compelled to leave them ; and thus it is obliged to descend 

 from the mountains in search of open water in the valleys and plains. In 

 Eastern Europe the severity of the winter compels it to migrate ; and some 

 find their way to Egypt, whilst others join the great western stream of 

 migration in autumn and reach our shores. They are occasionally men- 

 tioned in the " Migration Reports " of the lighthouse-keepers on the east 

 coast of England ; and Dixon writes as follows respecting their appearance 

 on the Lincolnshire coast at that season : — ''They arrive on this coast 

 about the same time as the Woodcock, usually remaining in the district 

 during the winter and disappearing again in spring — that is, those for- 

 tunate individuals who have escaped the never-ceasing persecution of the 

 gunners on the coast. Their favourite haunts are the open drains which 

 divide the fields and the sluggish dykes behind the sea-banks. These 

 localities seem strange haunts for such a species. I always associate a 

 well-wooded stream with the home of this aerial gem ; but here they have 

 no cover, and are obliged to take up their quarters amongst the masonry 

 or woodwork of the sluices and bridges which span the dykes. These dykes 

 swarm with suitable food, and the bird would be well-suited were it not so 

 incessantly shot at. I have often-been obliged to stamp or knock heavily 

 on one of these bridges before the bird would leave it, to glide like an arrow 

 down the stream. Though they are so common here, they are not at aU 

 gregarious. Each pair keeps to its favourite retreat; and though there 

 may be several birds within half a mile or less, they never seem to intrude 

 upon the domain of their neighbours. In such a locality the bird's habits 

 can be easily studied. There are no branches or bushes to hide the little 

 fisherman from view ; and you may see him plunge again and again into 

 the shallow waters in quest of his fish or insect food. I have watched him 

 fishing most industriously from an old stump sticking out of a pool, on 

 whose banks a Heron was standing, lost, as it were, in thought, and on 

 whose unruffled surface Coots and Waterhens were plashing about right 

 heartily. Probably some of the Kingfishers that haunt the coast in 

 winter are only migrants from the interior, where the streams are often 



