Kingfishers Nests. 347 
perhaps less, elapsed when he returned again, this. 
time carrying something in his beak that gleamed 
white and silvery in the sun—a fish. The next day it 
was the same, and the next. The kingfisher, or rather 
two of them, went continually to and fro, and it was 
astonishing what a number of fish they took. Never 
more than an hour, often less, elapsed without one or 
other going by. The fish varied much in size, some- 
times being very small. ; 
They had a nest, of course, somewhere ; but, being 
under the idea that they always built near brooks or 
in the high banks often seen at the back of ponds, it 
was difficult for me to imagine where the nest could be. 
To all appearance they flew straight through a small 
opening in another hedge, at the corner of the two in 
fact, about two hundred yards distant. Presently it 
occurred to me that this might be an illusion, that the 
birds did not really pass through the hedge, but had a 
nest somewhere in that corner. 
Just in the very angle was an old disused sawpit,. 
formed by enlarging the ditch, and made some years. 
before for the temporary convenience of sawing up a 
few heavy ‘sticks’ of timber that were thrown there- 
abouts. The sawpit, to prevent accidents to cattle, 
was roughly covered over with slabs of wood, which 
practically roofed it in, and of course darkened the 
interior. It was in this sawpit that the kingfishers 
had their nest in what appeared to be a hole partly 
excavated by a rabbit. The distance from the hatch 
