IN NATURE, vol. vii. p. 362, I made the assertion that I had “never seen a kingfisher take its food otherwise than by swallowing it whole, while yet upon the wing,” and therefore questioned the truth of the remark made by Mr. Darwin, that kingfishers, having caught a fish, “always beat it until it is killed” The truth of my assertion was doubted by many, and being assured by careful observers that Mr. Darwin's remark did apply to our species, I determined to very carefully study the habits of the bird in question, and have taken every opportunity possible, during the past two years, to familiarise myself with the daily routine of its life. The following is the result:—In 1873 my opportunities were exceptionally good for observing the movements of a pair of these birds, inasmuch as the whole season through—from April to November—was spent upon the water, studying our freshwater fishes. My daily record of observations mentions my watching the kingfisher while feeding, from one to tour times a day for eighty-three days—an average of twice a day, or 166 dives for fishes, witnessed; and either every plunge was unsuccessful, or the bird swallowed, before alighting, every fish he had taken. It is to be presumed, of course, that occasionally the bird missed his prey. At the close of the season, therefore, I felt satisfied that I was correct in my assertions ; but, as one of our best ornithologists has said, “the horizon of one man is at the best very limited, and many ornithological facts occur that are not dreamed of in his philosophy;” and so, on mentioning the results of my seven months of observation to a careful observer of our birds, and finding that he sided with Mr. Darwin, I determined to repeat my observations, and have done so through the spring, summer, and early autumn of the present year. My opportunities were equally good, and, very much to my own satisfaction, I have a different result to give. It is proper to state here, that during the summer of 1873 my observations were made altogether in one locality, upon one stream—the summit level of a canal—and confined to one pair of birds. During the present year I watched the kingfishers in several widely differing localities. My note-books make mention of this bird from two to six times in a day, for 101 days—about 400 observations ; and of this series, eighty-eight instances are recorded of seeing the kingfisher capture, and, on alighting, deliberately beating the fish against the limb on which he stood, and then swallowing the butchered fish. This is a long way from being a constant habit of the kingfisher ; less than one-fourth of the fish taken being killed previously to being swallowed. There is, of course, some cause for both habits occurring, and I believe it is to be explained in this way:—