The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-24 00:00:00

....... 'HE COTAIICION-KINGFISIIER. ",.......

(From Routiedge's Illustrated Natural History.)
The common Kingfisher is by far the most gorgeously
- decorated of all our indigenous birds, and can bear con..
parison with many of the gaily decorated inhabitants of
tropical climates.
It is a sufficiently common bird, although distributed
very thinly over the who're country, and considering the
great number of eggs which it lays, Ad the largo propor-
tion of young which it rears, is probably more plentiful
than is generally supposed to be the case. The straight,
glancing flight of the Kingfisher, as it shoots along the
river-bank, its azure back gleaming in the sunlight with
meteoric splendour, is a sight familiar to all those IN ho
have been accustomed to wander by the sides of rivers,
whether for the purpo 3C of angling-, or merely to study the
beauties of nature. swift is the flight of this bird, and
with such wonderful rapidity does it move its short wings,
its shape is hardly perceptible as it pasts through the air,
and it leaves upon the eye of the observer the impression
of a blue streak of ligot. This straight, arrow-like course
is that which is generally adopted by the bird, but on some
occasions the Kingfisaers will become very playful, and
sport with each other in the air, turning and wheeling with
touch adroitness as they mutually chase or avoid each
other in their game.
The food of this bird consists chiefly, though not exclu-
sively, of fish, which it takes, kills, and eats in the follow-
ing manner :
Seated upon a convenient bough or rail that overhangs
a stream where the smaller fish love to pass, the Kingfisher
waits very patiently until he sees an unsuspecting minnow
or stickleback pass below his perch, and then, with a rapid -
movement, drops into the water like a stone and secures
his prey. Should it be a small fish, he swallows it at once,
but if it should be of rather large dimensions, he carries it
to a stone or stump, beats it two or three times against the
hard substance, and then swallows it without any trouble.
The Kingfisher is sometimes given to hoarding, and
having caught more fish than he can eat, will take them
to his secret storehouse, and there hide them until he is
able to eat them. In one such case, in which an account
has been forwarded to me, the bird seemed to employ its
storehouse for the reception of fish which it had caught
and which were too large for it to swallow. The treasury
chosen by this individual was a crevice formed by the roots
of a willow-tree that grew close to the water's edge, and
it usually contained one or two fish. Sometimes there
would be five or six fishes lying in the hole, and some of
them so large that they have been removed and cooked.
The bird must sometimes have found a groat difficulty in
getting its prey fairly ashore, as the tracks were evident
on the soft mud of the bank where the fish had been
dragged, and the bird's feet had trodden. Young trout
were the general occupants of the storehouse, and in every
case the fish had been killed by a bite across the back of
the head or neck.
Sometimes the bird has been Down 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 re-
fused to pass through the gullet, and accordingly choked
the bird. The Kingfisher must Lave 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. Several similar
examples are known ; but one, which is recorded by Mr.
Quekett, is of so remarkable a kind that it is worthy of
notice. The bird had caught and actually attempted to
swallow a young dabchick, and, as might be supposed, had
miserably failed in the attempt.

The most complete instance of poetical justice befalling
a Kingfisher is one which occurred in Gloucestershire,
and was related to me by an eye-witness. 'The narrator
was sitting on the bank of a favourite river and watching
the birds, fish, and insects that disport themselves upon
and in its waters, when some strange blue object was seen
floating down the stream, and splashing the water with
great vehemence. On a nearer approach it was seen to be
a Kingfisher, from whose mouth protruded the tail and
part of the body of a fish. The struggles of the choking
bird became more and more faint, and had well nigh ceased
when a pike protruded his broad nose from the water,
seized both Kingfisher and fish, and disappeared with them
into the regions below.
The same person who related this tragical story, and
who has always felt an ardent love for birds, beasts, and
things that enjoy the blessings of life, and to whom I
have been indebted for much curious information and
many valuable specimens of natural history, also tells me
that Kingfishers are greatly susceptible of music, pro-
vided that it be played in a slow and solemn strain like
the old ecclesiastic chants. There was an organ in the
house placed in the room that looked towards the stream
which the Kingfishers frequented, and it was observed
by the household that whenever music of such a character
was played upon the organ the Kingfishers would soon
make their appearance at the bottom of the garden, and sit
as if enchanted with the strains. Quick and lively' airs
seemed rather to disconcert the birds, a fact which was
not discovered until after many experiments and the con-
sumption of much time.

With the fish it generally feeds its young, being able to
disgorge at will the semi-digested food which it has swal-
lowed, after the manner of most birds of prey. Fish, how-
ever, do not constitute its sole nourishment, as it is known
to eat various insects, such as dragon-flies and water-
beetles, and will often in cold weather pay a visit to the
sea shore for the purpose of feeding upon the little crabs,
shrimps, and -sandhoppors that are found upon the edge
of the tide. Still, by far the greatest portion of its diet
is composed of fish ; and I have never yet found any frag-
ments of insect anatomy among the debris which forms the
nest.

The nest of the Kingfisher is always made in some con-
ver.ient bank, at the extremity of a hole which has previ-
ously been occupied and deserted by the water rat or other
mining quadrupeds, and been enlarged and adapted for use
by the Kingfisher. Now and then the nest of this bird
has been found built in the deserted hole of a rabbit-warren

It is always found that the tunnel slopes gently upward,
and that the bird has shaped the extremity into a globular
form in order to contain the parent bird, the nest, and eggs.
Sometimes the nest is placed in the natural crevices formed

by the roots of trees growing on tho water's edge. ...
In
many cases it is easily detected, for the birds are very care-
less about the concealment of their nest even before the

eggs are hatched, and after tho young have made their ap-
pearance in the world, they are so clamorous for food and
so insatiable in their appetite that their noisy voices can be
heard for some distance, and indicate with great precision
the direction of their home.

Some writerssay that the intorior of the burrow is kept
so scrupulously clean that it is free from all evil scents.
My own experience, however, contradicts this assertion ;
for, after introducing the hand into a Kingfisher's nest, I

have always found it imbued with so offensive an odour

that I was fain to wash it repeatedly in the nearest stream.

As the Kingfishey isse sod
piscatorial in its habits, it would
naturally be supposed that the nest would be placed in
o
close connection with the stream from which the parent
birds obtained their daily food. I have, however, several
times seen a Kingfisher's nest, and obtained the eggs, in
spots that were not within half a mile of a fish-inhabited
stream. The bird is greatly attached to the burrow in
which it has once made its nest, and will make use of the
same spot year after year, even though the nest be plun-
dered and the eggs stolen.

The eggs are from six to eight in number, rather globu-
lar in form, and of an exquisitely delicate pink in colour
when fresh, changing to a pearly white when the contents

are removed. As soon as the young are able to exert
themselves, they perch on a neighbouring twig or other

convenient resting place, and squall incessantly for food
In a very short time they assume their yearling plumage
which is very nearly the same as that of the adult bird,
and soon learn to fish on their own account.