14 
BEAUTIFUL BIEDS. 
without a ripple, in order that the Kingfisher may see 
its prey, it is only at particular s])ots, in peculiar states 
of the weather, that its operations can he successfully 
carried on. AVhen evaporation has ceased, and the 
brilliant bird can, if so inclined, view its reflected 
image in the ivater, then is the Kingfisher’s harvest 
time ; then is he out, and active. 
As it is only on particular days and at particular 
liours, Mr. Mudie observes, that the Kingfisher can 
fish to advantage, he feeds abundantly at those times, 
and his gullet and stomach are ample in ])roportion ; 
nor is it till after he has gorged to the very throat, 
or the fishing tide is at an end, that he retires to his 
hole. There he digests and dozes, and often remains 
for days before he again sallies forth ; and when all 
the soluble matter is separated, he ejects the bones in 
those castings which are found in his den, and which, 
as they contain notliing but that which is capable of 
resisting the gastric juice of the bird, do not decom- 
pose in the air, so as to occasion the least unpleasant 
smell. 
These birds breed in the banks of the streams thei' 
haunt, either digging a hole themselves, or taking- 
possession of that of a water-rat, which they after- 
wards enlarge to suit their convenience. The bearing 
of the hole is always diagonally upwards, and it pierces 
two or three feet into the banlv. The nest is com- 
posed of the above-mentioned pellets of fish-bones, 
ejected into a small cavity at the further end of this 
retreat, and upon Avhich the eggs are laid, to the num- 
ber of six or seven, of a transparent pinkish-white. 
The length of the European species is seven inches; 
