THE KINGFISHEK. 
609 
of small stones which must be passed. Thus a pair of 
these birds will occupy the same nesting-place for several 
years if undisturbed, and the entrance be not interfered 
with. The nest itself is singular enough, and is wholly 
composed of fish-bones, which are probably cast up by 
the bird inside the burrow.* By the middle of May the 
nest contains from five to seven eggs : these are large for 
the size of the bird, round, shiny, and white, slightly 
tinged with the yellow of the yolk through the very 
transparent shell; no other egg can equal them in purity 
of colour and fineness of polish. How long the bird 
incubates is unknown, as their nest is in no way easy to 
find, and is difficult of access. The young are hideously 
ugly: they are so sparsely covered with down that they 
look as if it had been glued on in patches; they are at 
first fed with the larvae of dragonflies, &c., and later on 
with fish. The female alone sits, and is fed by her mate 
during the period of incubation. It is easy to find out 
whether a hole is occupied by Kingfishers or not, for if it 
is it will smell so strongly of fish that one cannot be 
mistaken. 
The Kingfisher has apparently but few enemies; this, 
however, is solely owing to its great activity, rendering 
successful pursuit extremely difficult. It even manages 
to escape man through its great shyness and caution, for 
it usually takes wing before the gunner is within shot. 
To kill this bird flying, fortunately demands more 
skill than our Sunday sportsmen are usually possessed 
of. The true sportsman is no great enemy of the 
* Should our readers care for further information on the nesting of this bird, we 
refer them to Mr. E. B. Sharpe’s chapter on this species, in his highly interesting 
work, ‘A Monograph of the Alcedinadse, or Family of the Kingfishers,’pp. 6—8. 
—JF. J. 
