426 



British Cage Birds. 



clear days, when the water is calm and pellucid, for they 

 are solely guided by their power of vision. When the water 

 is turbulent or muddy, or during a gale of wind, when the 

 surface is lashed into diminutive wavelets, their occupation 

 as fishermen is gone ; then they resort to flies and worms. 



Kingfishers do not generally build nests, but lay their eggs 

 in holes in the embankment of a river, or in a piece of 

 projecting earth that overhangs a stream. Sometimes they 

 place together a few dried roots and feathers, if the earth 

 is clayey or hard ; but in sand banks they rarely take this 

 precaution. The hen lays from six to eight whitish eggs, 

 and incubates in about sixteen or seventeen days. When 

 the young are about six days old they have a peculiar ap- 

 pearance, the quills of the covering feathers being raised 

 like the bristles on the back of a hedgehog ; at from eight 

 to ten days these unfold like the petals of a flower, and at 

 the age of fourteen the birds are fully blown or covered. They 

 do not leave the nest until they are fully grown and able 

 to fly. At this time they may be seen sitting on bushes 

 or branches of trees close to the water's edge, waiting 

 patiently the return of their parents with a supply of pro- 

 vender, and when they espie the old birds approaching 

 they commence to twitter and flutter their wings rapidly. 

 Should the parents pass on without feeding them, which they 

 are sure to do if they descry anyone near, the fledglings 

 will not infrequently rise and pursue them ; but, failing 

 to reach their more agile parents, they return again to 

 the spot whence they started. 



Methods of Capture. — Kingfishers may be caught by 

 placing limed rods round the holes where their nests are 

 situated ; but it is a cruel practice, and serves no good pur- 

 pose, for it is next to impossible to reconcile an old bird to 

 a cage or aviary, and very few of those that are taken sur- 

 vive, even for a short period, as they become sullen,' refuse 

 all proffered food, and die. 



Food and Treatment. — Kingfishers, in the natural state, 

 live chiefly on small fishes, horse leeches, newts, earth- 

 worms, slugs, flies, moths, and aquatic insects of all kinds. 

 They show a partiality for the May, dragon, and butterflies. 

 In confinement, they may be fed on fish, worms, slugs, and 

 the milt and roe of fishes. The undigested parts of food 



