25 1 Habits of the Kingfisher. 



a small oak, part of the roots of which are bare ; the earth 

 and gravel having gradually left them, and fallen into the 

 stream below. In the bank where these roots are seen, about 

 six feet from the surface of the water, is a hole in which a 

 pair of kingfishers have had their nest time out of mind. 

 They have afforded me the best possible opportunities of ex- 

 amining their economy ; and, from what I have seen, I am 

 perfectly satisfied that this pair of birds, at least, live entirely 

 upon fish : I have never been able to detect them feeding 

 either upon snails, or worms, or insects. They bring up a 

 fish from the water, crosswise in their bills, and then chuck 

 it down their throats head foremost. I do not think that they 

 ever eat a fish piecemeal : and these birds, with me, never 

 utter their ordinary shrill piping succession of notes, except 

 when they are on the wing. 



I love to take my stand behind a large tree, and watch the 

 kingfisher as he hovers over the water, and at last plunges 

 into it, with a velocity like that of an arrow from a bow. 

 How we are lost in astonishment when we reflect that in- 

 stinct forces this little bird to seek its sustenance underneath 

 the water ; and that it can emerge from it in perfect safety ; 

 though it posseses none of the faculties (save that of plung- 

 ing) which have been so liberally granted to most other birds 

 which frequent the deep ! I sometimes fancy that it is all 

 over with it, when I see it plunge into a pond, which I know 

 to be well stocked with ravenous pike : still it invariably re- 

 turns uninjured, and prepares to take another dip. 



There are people who imagine that the brilliancy of the 

 plumage of birds has some connection with a tropical sun. 

 Here, however, in our own native bird, we have an instance 

 that the glowing sun of the tropics is not required to pro- 

 duce a splendid plumage. The hottest parts of Asia and of 

 Africa do not present us with an azure more rich and lovely 

 than that which adorns the back of this charming little bird ; 

 while throughout the whole of America, from Hudson's Bay 

 to Tierra del Fuego, there has not been discovered a king- 

 fisher with colours half so rich or beautiful. Asia, Africa, and 

 America offer to the naturalist a vast abundance of different 

 species of the kingfisher. Europe presents only one ; but 

 that one is like a gem of the finest lustre. 



I feel sorry to add that our kingfisher is becoming scarcer 

 every year in this part of Yorkshire. The proprietors of 

 museums are always anxious to add it to their collections, 

 and offer a tempting price for it. On the canals, too, it un- 

 dergoes a continual persecution : not a waterman steers his 

 boat along them, but who has his gun ready to procure the 



