AUGUST BIRDS IN CAPE BRETON. 95 



When I said that the junco was the distinctive 

 bird of Cape Breton, I had in mind one rival 

 claimant who certainly pervades the island with 

 his presence. I well remember descending, just 

 at sunset, into the exquisite gien of Loch o' Law, 

 the most satisfying piece of inland scenery which 

 I saw in all Cape Breton. As the road bent 

 around the wooded border of the lake, seven 

 large blue birds rose from one end of the lake, 

 and flew, in a straggling flock, down to a spot 

 remote from the road. They looked like king- 

 fishers, but I thought I had learned from experi- 

 ence that, around small mountain lakes, king- 

 fishers hunt singly in August. Nevertheless 

 they were kingfishers, and they were hunting in 

 a flock. A few hours before, at Middle Kiver, 

 where trout lie in shallow sunlit water over a 

 yellow sandy bottom, I had seen a kingfisher 

 hover above a point in the stream for several 

 minutes. A rival flew down upon him and drove 

 him away ; but before my horse could walk 

 across the iron bridge above the river he was 

 back again, hovering, kingbird-like, over the 

 same spot. At Baddeck, the king-fishers perched 

 upon the telegraph wires, or assumed statuesque 

 poses upon the tips of slender masts of pleasure 

 boats at anchor. There appeared to be no point 

 on the Bras d'Or or the fresh-water lakes and 

 rivers of the island where kinsffishers were not 



