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THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



in 



THE KINGFISHER. (Alcedo Ispida.) 



BY PHILORNIS. 



Any of our readers who have the opportunity of strolling along the 

 banks of a quiet brook or by the side of some secluded mere will be 

 familiar with this beautiful bird, which like a gleam of azure light shoots 

 swiftly by or dips down to the surface of the water. No one who has 

 seen the kingfisher darting past in the brilliant sunlight of a summer 

 afternoon can have failed to admire this " living gem," and wished to 

 know something of its life and habits. 



Many, perhaps a majority, of our readers have probably not been so 

 fortunate as to see this somewhat solitary bird, which, however, is not so 

 rare as most people suppose. It is scarcely possible to convey in words 

 a just idea of the beauty and brilliancy of the plumage of the kingfisher ; 

 its glossy blue-green back and head, its red breast and feet, its yellowish 

 white throat, all unite to make it one of our handsomest birds. 



Though its plumage makes it a favourite victim of the birdstuffer, its 

 numbers do not appear to be seriously diminished, and those who know 

 where to look for it will have little difficulty in finding the kingfisher, 

 even close to the suburbs of our northern manufacturing towns. This 

 may be due to the number of its eggs (usually seven or eight, spotlessly 

 white), which are laid in April at the end of a deep burrow excavated 

 in a bank overhanging some brook or river, and affording a safe hiding 

 place for the young birds. To secure either eggs or young some deter- 

 mination is necessary, for the burrow will only admit the insertion of 

 one arm, and the fragments of fish-bone, with the not too pleasant 

 smell arising therefrom, will deter any but the most enthusiastic 

 collectors. 



The brook near which it makes its home provides the kingfisher with 

 food ; perched on an overhanging bough, this stolid disciple of Cotton 

 and Walton (or was he their teacher ?) keeps a keen watch — one is 

 tempted to say "his eagle eye," but that would be an injurious com- 

 parison — on the surface of the water. As soon as some unwary fish — 

 troutlet it may be or stickleback — ventures too near the surface, the 

 kingfisher darts from its post of vantage, and catching the victim in its 

 long and powerful bill returns to the bough, against which it sharply 

 beats its victim once or twice, and then swallows it, whole and headfore- 

 most. 



Unlike some human parents, the kingfishers not only feed but 

 educate their young. The wariness of the birds necessitates patience 

 and caution on the part of those who would watch them, but one who 

 has seen the old birds and five young ones sitting on a bough which 

 hung like a bridge over a small trout stream will not readily forget the 



