KIN GEISHER . — Alcedo I'spida. 
The common Kingfisher is very plentiful upon the banks of all English 
streams, where it may be seen darting along the course of the stream like a blue 
meteor, or sitting upon a branch or stump overhanging the water, and darting 
down every now and then into the stream upon its prey. When it has caught a 
fish it carries it ashore, generally beats it once or twice upon the ground, throws 
it up in the air, catches it with its head downwards and swallows it whole. 
Sometimes the bird has been known to meet with a deadly retribution on the 
part of his prey, and to fall a victim to his voracity. One such example I have 
seen. A Kingfisher had caught a common bull-head, or miller s thumb, a well- 
known large-headed fish, and on attempting to swallow it had been baffled by the 
large head, which refused to pass through the gullet, and accordingly choked the 
bird. The Kingfisher must have been extremely hungry when it attempted to 
eat so large a morsel, as the fish was evidently of a size that could not possibly 
have been accommodated in the bird’s interior. 
The nest of the Kingfisher is made in a hole in the side of the river bank, and 
is composed of a mass of fish bones which are ejected from the stomach. This 
curious nest is about the size of a small saucer, and is extremely shallow, the 
hollow being hardly half an inch in depth. There is a fine specimen in the 
British Museum. The eggs are about eight in number, very round, and of a 
pinky white. 
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