ORNITHOLOGY 



117 



can devour his prey in peace and quiet- 

 ness. That he has the fish for which he 

 dove is ahiiost a foregone conclusion, for 

 he rarely misses when once he has seized 

 the opportunity and made his dive. His 

 name is, undoubtedly, well deserved for 

 he assuredly is a king fisher. 



The kingfishers are anything but socia- 

 ble in their relations with each other and 

 it is most unusual that two pairs should 

 be found nesting within anything like a 

 close distance of each other, or even us- 

 ing the same fishing grounds. Clear 

 streams, small rivers, ponds and small 

 lakes that abound with fish and whose 

 shores are, at least in spots, more or less 

 perpendicular and well wooded, are their 

 favorite resorts. Generally a pair will 

 preempt a certaim territory, such as a 

 stretch of half a mile or so of a river 

 bank or an entire pond if it is small, 

 and will refuse to allow others to fish 

 within this territory, much less make 

 their nest there. There are, of course, 

 notable exceptions to this rule, and there 

 are cases on record in which the birds 

 have formed quite a colony in some par- 

 ticular bank, but these cases are very 

 rare. 



Where a bank extends for a consider- 

 able distance it is very likely to be occu- 

 pied by several pairs who place their 

 nests at more or less regular intervals 

 sufficiently far apart to avoid interfer- 

 ence. I know of one such bank extending 

 for something more than two miles that 

 annually shelters ten or a dozen pairs of 

 birds. 



The kingfisher is of no very great bene- 

 fit to man although he does devour some 

 insects and a few rodents. On the other 

 hand neither is he particularly harmful. 

 The small amount of fish which he annu- 

 ally catches is of very little importance for 

 he is not numerous enough anywhere to 

 noticeably reduce the inhabitants of any 

 one body of water. We can therefore, 

 it would seem to me, well afford to allow 

 him to Hve his life in peace. 



He is the halcyon of the ancients who 

 attributed to his spirit after death the 

 power of directing the course of the 

 winds. The week preceding and the week 

 succeeding the winter solstice comprise 

 the fourteen days that were known as the 

 Halcyon Days. It was during this time 

 that the sea was supposed to always re- 

 main calm in order that the kingfishers 



might more easily build their strange 

 nests. 



To their bodies was attributed the 

 power of giving peace and plenty as well 

 as strength and beauty and all the other 

 necessities of a happy existence. They 

 were supposed to be able to turn aside 

 the thunderbolts and therefore any house 

 in which one was kept was perfectly safe 

 from lightning, at least in the minds of 

 its simple inmates. In some parts of 

 France eveni to this day they are often 

 called "moth birds" on account of the 

 power with "which their bodies are ac- 

 credited to drive away and keep away 

 moths from woolen clothing. 



These are but a few of the myths and 

 superstitions by which this bird, or rather 

 this family of birds, has been surrounded. 

 It is needless to say that they have no 

 foundation in fact but had their origin 

 in the strange habits of the different 

 members of this interesting family. 



The flight of the kingfisher is strong 

 and rapid and he is capable of sustaining 

 it for long distances without rest. When 

 making extended flights he rises to a 

 considerable height. His mode of pro- 

 gression consists of a series of five or 

 six quick beats of his wings followed by 

 a long glide. 



He is nocturnal as well as diurnal in 

 his habits and is abroad fully as much in 

 the night as in the dav. 



A genuine love of nature in its broad- 

 est, deepest, highest development — a 

 love which reaches wnth wide and 

 eager vision and extended hands to- 

 ward the stars above, and out upon the 

 uttermost bounds of land and sea, wak- 

 ening, vivifying, sharpening every 

 sense, and enkindling in the heart a 

 w^armth of interest so genial and perva- 

 sive as to make one under its influence 

 as a soul aroused to its real self from a 

 vague, dull dream of being — a love of 

 nature like this must inevitably start 

 from some first point of individual con- 

 tact. And the realm of birds is quite 

 su cient to meet the requirement. — 

 Augustus Wright Bomberger. 



A love of birds leads to a love of all 

 nature, and a love of all nature to the 

 brightest, best and happiest life under 

 heaven."— Augustus Wright Bomber- 



eer. 



