380 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 10. 
down it goes. The bird leaves the water without a feather 
being wetted, and after it has filled its maw, it then makes 
several dashes into the fountain, uttering a peculiar shrill 
cry, no doubt of pleasure, as if it were enjoying its bath. 
From thence it flies to its roost, and then becomes inactive 
for some quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, its feathers 
rumpled, and sitting all of a heap, sleepy aud stupid. This 
lasts during digestion, which is very rapid ; and as soon as 
it is completed, the bird is observed to be opening its bill 
very wide two or three times, and at length ejects a pellet, 
about an inch long, composed of bones, beautifully matted 
together, and not unlike a lump of Epsom salts (you see I 
cannot help comparisons, which are natural to me). This 
mass is perfectly inodorous, and forms, in the wild state, 
the nidus for the deposit of their eggs, in the holes to which 
they continue to resort, year after year, for breeding pur¬ 
poses. Their dejections are highly offensive, and are voided 
from them with considerable force; and this it is which 
gives to their nest the horrid and disgusting odour of which 
naturalists justly complain. 
“ If you have never brought up young Kingfishers, you 
would be astonished how large fish they are capable of 
swallowing. In feeding them I have often given them a 
bleak or a dace as long as their entire body, including beak 
and tail; and, in swallowing it, it seemed as if the fish en¬ 
circled their whole body, while during the feasting they set 
up a peculiar burring sound, in which the whole nest joins, 
forming a not unmusical chorus. I have had as many as 
seven young birds in one nest, all of which I have brought 
up and kept until the following spring, when battles ensue 
amongst them, which are kept up incessantly until one only 
remains the victor, and all the rest have perished in the 
deadly conflict. I have watched them pursue each other 
until at last, by one grand dart, the one has transfixed the 
other to the ground, and flown away triumphant. This I 
have observed in several broods that I have successfully 
brought up, but all with the like result, occasioned no doubt 
by a wisely-ordained instinct, that each might find its own 
separate location and dependance. The same pugnacious 
propensity is seen in many tribes of birds that have a 
voracious appetite, showing that a very wide field is required 
for their support. 
“ They obtain their prey evidently from sight alone, and 
I have often wondered how they have managed when the 
streams are constantly muddy from the frequent rains, for 
in confinement, they will not bear starvation. It is said 
they feed on insects ; I have never observed them to do so 
in captivity, though, as before mentioned, they have resorted 
to the meat of the Hawk. 
“ Frequently have I observed them hawking, or rather 
hovering for several minutes over the fountain, watching for 
food, and then suddenly dash to the bottom and rise again 
with the fish, and very seldom indeed miss their aim. It is 
said the fish are dazzled by the brightness of their plumage, 
but this cannot be ; the dazzling portion being above, and 
the reddish brown beneath, which only could be observed by 
the fish underneath, if the fish are observers. 
“ I am here reminded of a large Heron that I kept in the 
same aviary, which I used to feed on fresh herrings, by 
throwing into the fountain lialf a-dozen or so, which he 
would in a very short time devour. I then had seven King¬ 
fishers, but I found one morning (I suppose I had not 
been sufficiently early with the herrings) one of my King¬ 
fishers missing, and nowhere to be found; the next morn¬ 
ing another was gone, and in a day or two another. I never 
suspected the Heron, but while watching him one day I 
found in his dejection a quantity of feathers undigested, 
which upon a nearer view I discovered to be those of the 
King-fishers; so without more ado I packed Mr. Heron off 
in a hamper to the Zoological Gardens in Regent’s Park, 
i where he was left and his character together.” 
The following is a list of the Horticultural and 
Poultry Shows of which we are at present aware. We 
shall be obliged by any of our readers sending us ad¬ 
ditions to the list, and giving the address of the Se¬ 
cretaries. 
HORTICULTURAL SHOWS. 
Aberdeenshire, Sept. 17. (Sec. G. Reid.) 
Bath, Sept. 10th. (Sec. H. T. St. John Maule, Esq.) 
Bridgewater, Sept. 22. (Secs., Mr. J. Leaker and Mr. 
J. Hayward.) 
Bury St. Edmunds, Nov. 26 (Chrysanthemums). (Sec. 
G. P. Clay, Esq ) 
Caledonian (Inverleith Row), Edinburgh, Dec. 2. 
Hampshire, Nov. 18 (Winchester). (Sec. Rev. F. Wick¬ 
ham, Winchester.) 
Hexham, Sept. 15,16. 
Hull, Sept. 10. 
London Floricultural (Exeter Hall, Strand), Sept. 28, 
Oct. 12+, Nov. 9+, 23, Dec. 14+. 
North London, Nov. 23, Chrysanthemum. 
Northampton, Sept. 27, Dahlia. 
Oxfordshire (Royal), Sept. 23. (Secs., C. Tawney and 
W. Undershell, Esqrs.) 
South London (Royal), Oct. 14+,Nov. 11+, Dec.9+, 16. 
Turriff, Sept. 17. 
Whitehaven, Sept. 17, Dahlias. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Birmingham and Midland Counties, 14th, I5th, 16th, 
and 17th December. 
Bristol Agricultural, December 7th, 8th, and 9th. 
(Sec. James Marmont.) 
Cornwall (Penzance), about a week after the Birming¬ 
ham. (Secs. Rev. W. W. Wingfield, Gulval Vicarage, 
and E. H. Rodd, Esq.) 
Great Yarmouth, Sept. 10. (Sec. Mr. H. Youell.) 
Manchester and Liverpool, Sept. 23. (Sec. Mr. H. 
White, Warrington.) 
t For seedlings only. 
ROOT-PRUNING. 
So much has been done during later years in the way 
of dwarfing fruit-trees, that root-pruning, and those 
other operations which have for their object fruitfulness 
in a small compass, have been almost laid aside. In 
occasional rambles through the country, however, we 
have seen enough to prove that thousands of cases 
exist, legitimate subjects for the root-pruner. Wherever 
there is a strong and healthy subject barren through a 
hitherto invincible coarseness or exuberance of growth, 
there is a fitting subject. We do not say that no other 
means exist of carrying out the object, but we affirm, 
that with large trees it is the safest and easiest mode. 
The first experiment we knew performed was about the 
year 1817, by a brother of the writer of this article, 
Mr. P. Errington, then gardener to J. Alcock, Esq. 
This, it will be seen, was many years before the practice 
was made patent by means of the gardening press. The 
late lamented Mr. Loudon was the first to place it well 
before the public, in his Gardener’s Magazine, in the 
pages of which we used to record our practice more 
than twenty years since. 
Mr. P. Errington’s tree, if we remember aright, was a 
Breda, or Brussels apricot, of extraordinary gross habit, 
and on which the art of the pruner had been exercised 
in vain. The success of this root-pruning, we well 
remember, created no little surprize amongst some of 
the blue aprons of tbe day, who were none of your 
bookish men,—a crooked knife, a blue apron, a headful 
of traditionary lore, with a few mysteries, being their 
stock-in-trade. 
Since those days, no year has passed without our ; 
practising this check upon grossness; and we have thus 
had, at least, twenty years’ experience with almost every 
subject of tbe fruit-garden, and, indeed, have not unfre- j 
quently carried the experiment into the pleasure-ground. 
Its mode of action would appear to be of a two-fold 
character. In the first place, the abstraction of a por¬ 
tion of the roots is incontestably the cause of a loss of 
