TCD MS 10516 folio 61 verso
[12th October 1916] Kingfishers often relinquished their distinctive habit of fishing from a poise in the air and adopted that of the Common Kingfisher of fishing from a perch in a tree. I had before observed on the banks of the Kabul river, where there were scarcely any trees, that the Indian Common Kingfisher had to renounce its habits in favour of those of the Pied Kingfisher.
The methods by which the various birds dealt with their captures was always a source of entertainment. I have already mentioned how the Tern used sometimes throw its fish into the air in order to secure a better hold. The Kingfisher used to carry is prey to a date-palm and end the struggle by hammering the fish against a branch. But the habit of the Bee-eater (Merops), a widely-different bird living on insects, interested