404 THE BELTED KINGFISHER. 
stream of water; sometimes, however, they select a place 
a mile or more distant from their fishing haunts. They will 
associate with the Sand-martins, and rear their brood in — 
the same bank. Although there is a great difference in the 
disposition of these two species of birds in the management 
of their home affairs, as regards neatness and system of liv- 
ing, yet they live amicably together. The Martin, quiet and 
gentle in her manner, carries on the affairs of her household, 
which would do credit to many a housewife living in a higher 
sphere, and of whom domestic economists would do well to 
take a few lessons in the art of house-keeping. The tene- 
ment of the Kingfisher presents quite a different aspect. In 
it there is no nest of soft dried grass and downy feathers 
prepared for the nestlings, nor care of any kind for the re- 
ception of the eggs, except a cavity hollowed in the form of 
an oven at the extreme end of the hole, which measures in 
height from four to five inches, and in depth, below the pas- 
sage leading to it, about three-fourths of an inch. The pas- 
sages are usually from thirty to thirty-five inches in length; 
the first one is straight and about sixteen inches long: the 
second, which leads to the nest, diverges to the right or left, 
and is about the same length of the first one. On the n 
earth, in the space above described, the female deposits from 
six to eight pure white eggs, which measure in length one 
and one-fourth inches, and in breadth one inch. Unlike te 
mild birds of the bank with whom it has the peaceful p 
lege of breeding with, it comes with a furious flight, with a 
fish still quivering in its powerful bill, with crest erect, and 
with a loud rattling voice, that wakes the echoes, and a T 
the hole, dividing amongst the brood the food it bringt | 
them. It requires but a short time to render the apartment 
a filthy one; the offal of their food, the excrements of 
young birds, and the exhalations of their bodies, produc? 
such a stench as to make it a wonder how they live 
thrive in such an offensive place. a ' 
The Kingfisher is more cautious when it approaches its 

and ay 
