Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/62

Rh seldom missed by the keen-eyed bird. The ordinary manner, however, in which the Kingfisher captures its finny prey, is by remaining quietly perched on some stump or branch overhanging the water, and then intently watching, with dogged perseverance, for the favourable moment in which to make its plunge: it marks the shoals of minnows gliding past, the trout lurking beneath the concealment of some stone, or in the shadow of the bank,—the roach and dace pursuing their course. At length, attracted by a floating insect, one rises to take the prize; at that instant, like a shot, down descends the glittering bird, the crystal water scarcely bubbling with its plunge; the next moment it re-appears, bearing its victim in its beak, with which it returns to its resting-place; without loosing its hold, it passes the fish between its mandibles, till it has fairly grasped it by the tail; then, by striking smartly its head three or four times against the branch, ends its struggles, reverses its position, and swallows it whole."

The Kingfisher, as has been observed, either digs, or selects a hole in some bank, as the scene of its domestic economy. It is always formed in an upward direction, that the accumulating moisture may drain off at the mouth. At the end, which is about three feet from the entrance, quantities of fish-bones are found, ejected by the parent birds, but whether these are placed there with or without design, is as yet a disputed point among naturalists. The prevailing opinion seems to be that the castings are purposely accumulated to form a sort of nest. Six or seven eggs