klein] THE BELTED KINGFISHER 171 



little imagines the singular course of the passage leading to the 

 room at the other end, and is hardly aware of the six long weeks of 

 faithful care bestowed by the parent birds upon their eggs and 

 family. 



"The mother bird, as usual with the sex, does most of the work at 

 home. The hole is generally located high upon the bank, is some- 

 what less than four inches in diameter, and varies from at least 

 five to eight feet in length. It slightly ascends to the dark mys- 

 terious den at the other end,- — dark because the passage generally 

 bends once or twice, thereby entirely excluding the light. The roof 

 of the passage is vaulted from end to end, merging into a domed 

 ceiling almost as shapely as that of the Pantheon. Such a home is 

 built to stay and if undisturbed would endure for years. Two 

 little tracks are worn by the female's feet the full length of the 

 tunnel as she passes in and out. 



"The kingfisher's knowledge of construction, her ingenious 

 manner of hiding her eggs from molestation, and her constancy to 

 her young arouse your interest and admiration. We must also 

 appreciate the difficulty with which the digging is attended, the 

 meeting of frequent stones to block the work, which, by the way, 

 may-be the cause of the change of direction of the hole, but which 

 I was inclined to believe intentional until I found a perfectly 

 straight passage, in which a brood was successfully raised. 



"To get photographs of a series of the eggs and young was almost 

 as difficult a task I believe as the Kingfisher had in making the 

 hole. It was necessary to walk at least four miles and dig down to 

 the back of the nest, thru the bank above, and fill it in again four 

 times, without deranging the nest or frightening away the parent 

 birds. 



"A photograph of the seven eggs was taken before they had 

 even been touched, and numerous disgorgements of fish bones and 

 scales show about the roomy apartment. The shapely domed ceil- 

 ing, as well as the area of the passage, is constructionally necessary 

 for the safety of the occupants. 



"Some writer has mentioned that as soon as the young King- 

 fishers are able, they wander about their little homes until they are 

 able to fly, but evidently his experience was limited. My four 

 pictures of the young birds were taken by lifting them out of their 

 nests and placing them in a proper place to be photographed in the 

 light, but the first two pictures were taken in the positions in which 



