318 
The Kingfisher. 
being dried on purpose to form the nest,” he has found “scattered 
about the hole in all directions, from its entrance to its termination, 
without the least order or working up with the earth, and all these moist 
and foetid,” whence he concluded the idea of Montagu was an error.* 
It commonly frequents the hole it selects, for “a series of years, and will 
not abandon it though the nest be repeatedly plundered of the eggs or 
young. Small fish, such as Barristicles and Minnows, seem to be its 
principal food, but it will eat slugs, worms, and leeches. It will 
occasionally suspend itself on the wing, and dart on its prey like the Os¬ 
prey ; but more frequently it sits perched on a bough over the water, 
and pouncing upon the small fish as they come near the surface, seizes 
them with its bill. It is rarely seen about rocky rapid water, where the 
Dipper chiefly resorts, but is frequently found about wooded streams, and 
fish-ponds, inhabiting the shores of large salt water rivers, and estuaries.” 
These birds are said to be very shy and solitary. Mr. Jennings re¬ 
marks, (in his Ornithologia, page 172,) that “they are rarely, if ever, 
found near the habitations of man.” In some parts, however, they are 
far from uncommon near the habitations of man, neither do they appear 
timid when approached by individuals, but will sometimes sit until per¬ 
sons advance to within a few yards of them. Mr. Rennie gives us an 
instance of this, in Montagu’s Dictionary, p. 280, where he observes 
when speaking on its habits, “ it is not so very shy and solitary as it has 
been represented, for it has more than once allowed me to approach 
within a few yards of the bough on which it was perched. I am in the 
habit of seeing Kingfishers very often, on the banks of a brook which 
runs past my garden, at Lee, in Kent, not one hundred yards from my 
house. A Kingfisher’s nest was found, with young, on the bank of the 
same brook, within gun-shot of a whole row of houses.” And a similar 
remark is made in page 82, vol. 4, of the Magazine of Natural History. 
This, however, must be understood as no general rule, for we have found 
that in many parts of the country a single specimen is scarcely to be met 
with ; and even when one has been observed, it has made a speedy re¬ 
treat before it could be approached at any convenient distance. “ They 
fly with great rapidity, notwithstanding their wings being very short; 
the motion of them are so very quick as scarcely to be perceptible. 
When the young are nearly full feathered they are so extremely voraci¬ 
ous, that the old birds not being capable of supplying them with food, 
sufficient to satisfy the calls of hunger, they are continually chirping, and 
may be discovered by their noise.” 
Thousands of imaginary virtues have been ascribed to them by the 
superstition of the ancients; for instance, their bodies, when dried, were 
supposed to preserve cloth from being moth-eaten ; they also calmed 
* It is evident however, tViey do sometimes form their nests of the bones, as mentioned 
by Montagu, one that was taken out of tlie bank of a little rivulet which runs tlirou'fh Chats- 
wortli Park, was so formed. 
