102 BOMBAY DUCKS 
temperature falls to 16° F. in the night time is no larger 
than the Madras bird. Mr. Blanford says that this 
kingfisher is not found in the Himalayas. This is 
certainly not the case, I have seen dozens of specimens 
of the birds in those mountains at altitudes of 5000 feet 
and even higher. The common kingfisher has the 
typical build of the tribe: its neck and tail are short, its 
bill is long, and its figure distinctly dumpy. The breast 
is ferruginous, and the wings and back light blue, the 
blue of the former having a greenish tinge. The feet 
are coral-red. A white patch on the side of the neck 
completes the bird’s uniform. 
As it sits on a branch overhanging water, with its 
head buried in its neck, but bobbing up and down with 
spasmodic jerks as though it had a slight attack of 
St. Vitus’s dance, the bird puts one in mind of a 
shrivelled-up Blue Hungarian bandsman dressed in a 
uniform three sizes too large for him. When, however, 
a fish shows itself the kingfisher becomes sprightly 
enough, It slips into the water at a considerable angle 
and reappears with its tiny quarry, which it first dashes 
against a stone and then swallows, The whole process 
is accomplished in about five seconds, and is performed 
with ridiculous ease. 
No piece of water, which contains fish or crustacea, 
is too small to serve as a preserve for the common king- 
fisher. I once saw one sitting up over a pool, not three 
square yards in area, which had formed in a hole by 
the roadside. 
A pair of kingfishers inhabit the Victoria Regia pond 
in the Botanical Gardens at Madras, another make the 
