KINGFISHER. 
451 
brings up the prey, which it swallows on the bank* 
after having beat it to death. When the kingfisher 
cannot find a projecting bough, it sits on some 
stone near the brink, or even on the gravel ; but 
the moment it perceives the little fish, it takes a 
spring of twelve or fifteen feet, and drops perpen- 
dicularly from that height; Often it is observed to 
stop short in its rapid flight, exposing the vivid 
colours of its breast to the full rays of the sun, and 
fluttering with expanded wings over the smooth 
surface of the water: the fish, attracted by the 
brightness and splendour of the appearance, are de- 
tained whilst the wily bird darts upon them with 
unerring certainty. At each pause it continues as 
it were suspended at the height of fifteen or twenty 
feet ; and when it would change its place, it sinks 
and skims along within a foot of the surface of the 
water; then rises and halts again. 
It makes its nest in holes in the sides of rivers 
and brooks, which it scoops out to a considerable 
depth, and lays from five to nine eggs of a most 
beautiful semitransparent white. The nest is very 
fetid on account of the small bones and scales 
which are found in it, but without any arrange- 
ment ; nor can we find those little pellets with 
which Belon says it plasters its nest, or trace the 
form imputed to it by Aristotle, who compares it to 
a gourd, and its substance and texture to those sea 
balls or lumps of interwoven filaments which cut 
with difficulty* but when dried become friable. 
2 G 2 
