90 COMMON KINGFISHER. 



the poetical Alcyon or Halcyon of the ancients, 

 which was believed to build a floating nest; an 

 idea which perhaps originated from a view of the 

 nests of some of the Colymbi or Grebes, which 

 build their nests among aquatic plants, and which 

 are sometimes so loosely attached as to be occa- 

 sionally carried to some little distance on the sur- 

 face of the water. The nest of the Kingfisher is 

 variously described by different authors; some 

 maintaining that the bird deposits its eggs on the 

 bare surface of the mould at the end of the hole 

 in which it resides: this hole is constantly observed 

 to be in an ascending direction, and is often two 

 or three feet in length, terminating in a cavity, 

 which is generally strewed or lined with a layer of 

 small fish bones, intermixed with scales. Aristotle 

 affirms that the nest is in the form of a long-necked 

 gourd, and composed of fish-bones. " The King- 

 fisher, says the Count de Buffon, nestles in the 

 banks of rivers and brooks, in holes made by wa- 

 ter-rats, or by crabs, which it deepens and fashions, 

 and contracts at the aperture: small fish bones and 

 scales are found in it, among sand, but without 

 any arrangement, and here its eggs are deposited- 

 though we cannot find those little pellets with which 

 Belon says it plasters its nest, or trace the form im- 

 puted to it by Aristotle, who compares this nest 

 to a gourd, and its substance and texture to those 

 sea-balls or lumps of interwoven filaments which 

 rut with difficulty, but when dried become friable." 

 Dr. Latham says the Kingfisher lays its eggs, to 

 jihe number of seven or more, in a hole in the bank 



