Lake Umbagog journals, 1871-1916 (inclusive)
Page 89
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Ceryle aleyon. Lake Umbagog, Maine. 1897. Watrous and Gilbert went up the Megalloway this morning June 1. finding a Kingfisher's nest (from which they started the bird) in the river bank near Horse Shoe Bend. June 2. We made the first stop (in a trip up the Megalloway this morning) at "Parson's landing" where Watrous found a King- fisher's nest yesterday. The hole was in a bank of pure, hard clay about five feet above the river. It ran in almost per- fectly straight but ascending slightly for a distance of ex- actly four feet from the face of the bank to the back of the nest chamber which was nearly circular in shape with smoothly finished walls and measured 3 inches in height by 12 inches in diameter, the bottom being slightly hollowed and just 20 inches below the surface of the ground above. The exterior entrance to the tunnel measured 4 inches wide by 3 1/2 inches high. Six perfectly fresh eggs arranged in a circle lay on the bare damp clay in the middle of the chamber. There was absolutely no trace of a nest—indeed no extraneous material whatever save one small fish bone. One of the birds was perched on a root within twenty yards of the nest and flew off, rattling, as we approached. The other was in the nest. She made no sign when I thrust in a long, slender rod but when we dug down to the nest from a- bove through the roof of the chamber she emerged from the en-