NATURAL HISTORY 
■21 0 
bats, and fight till one of them is vanquished, and com- 
pelled to give way. In Sweden these birds perform a 
partial migration; the females collect in large flocks in 
the latter end of September, and, leaving their mates, 
spread themselves through various parts of Europe: the 
males continue in Sweden, and are again joined by their 
females, who return in great numbers, about the begin- 
ning of April, to. their wonted haunts. 
KingFisher. (Alcedo Alcyon. Wil, PI. 34.) This, 
which is the most beautiful of all the British birds, is 
seven inches in length, and eleven in breadth. The bill 
is near two inches long, and black. The tongue is 
fleshy, short, flat, and acute. The top of the head and 
the sides of the body are oi a dark green, marked with 
transverse spots of blue; the tail is of a deep blue, and 
the other parts of the body are dusky orange, white and 
black; the legs are red; the wings are short, but they fly 
very swiftly. 
The kingfisher is found throughout Europe. It preys 
on the smaller fish, and sits frequently on a branch pro- 
jecting over the current; there it remains motionless, and 
often watches whole hours to catch the moment when a 
little fish springs under its station; it dives perpendicu- 
larly into the water, where it continues several seconds, 
and then brings up the fish, which it carries to land, 
beats to death, and then swallows; but afterwards throws 
up the indigestible parts. 
When this bird cannot find a projecting bough, it sits 
on some stone near the brink, or even on the gravel; but 
the moment it perceives the fish, it takes a spring up- 
ward of twelve or fifteen feet, and drops perpendicularly 
from that height. Often it is observed to stop short in 
its rapid course, and remain stationary, hovering over 
the same spot for several seconds. Such is its mode in 
winter, when the muddy swell of the stream, or the 
thickness of the ice, constrains it to leave the rivers, and 
ply along the sides of the unfrozen brooks. 
This bird lays its eggs, to the number of seven or 
more, in a hole in the bank of the river or stream that it 
