462 
KINGFISHERS. 
its solitary and aquatic retreat, this bird may often be seen 
perched on some dead and projecting branch, scrutinizing the 
waters for its expected prey. If unsuccessful, it quickly courses 
the meanders of the streams or borders of ponds just above 
their surface, and occasionally hovers for an instant, with rap- 
idly moving wings, over the spot where it perceives the gliding 
quarry ; in the next instant, descending with a quick spiral 
sweep, a fish is seized from the timid fry, with which it returns 
to its post and swallows in an instant. When startled from 
the perch, on which it spends many vacant hours digesting its 
prey, it utters commonly a loud, harsh, and grating cry, very 
similar to the interrupted creakings of a watchman’s rattle, and 
almost, as it were, the vocal counterpart to the watery tumult 
amidst which it usually resides. 
The nest — a work of much labor — is now burrowed in some 
dry and sandy or more tenacious bank of earth, situated be- 
yond the reach of inundation. At this task both the parties 
join with bill and claws, until they have horizontally perforated 
the bank to the depth of 5 or 6 feet. With necessary precau- 
tion, the entrance is only left sufficient for the access of a 
single bird. The extremity, however, is rounded like an oven, 
so as to allow the individuals and their brood a sufficiency of 
room. This important labor is indeed prospective, as the same 
hole is employed for a nest and roost for many succeeding 
years. Here the eggs are deposited. Incubation, in which 
both parents engage, continues for sixteen days ; and they 
exhibit great solicitude for the safety of their brood. The 
mother, simulating lameness, sometimes drops on the water, 
fluttering as if wounded, and unable to rise from the stream. 
The male also, perched on the nearest bough, or edge of the 
projecting bank, jerks his tail, elevates his crest, and passing to 
and fro before the intruder, raises his angry and vehement 
rattle of complaint ( Audubon ) . At the commencement of 
winter, the frost obliges our humble Fisher to seek more open 
streams, and even the vicinity of the sea; but it is seen to 
return to Pennsylvania by the commencement of April. 
