THE KINGFISHEE 73 



succession both parent birds dropped the dis- 

 abled minnows back into the pool, while in great 

 excitement and anger the young birds protested 

 against the treatment fchey were receiving, and 

 failed in their persistent but feeble attempts to 

 secure the falling fish. At last, desperate with 

 hunger, one of the fledglings took a plunge, 

 and came quickly to the surface with a minnow 

 in its beak ; then, failing to fly up straight to its 

 perch, fluttered across the pool to a low^ alder- 

 root, and there, in the shadow, called continually 

 to the rest of the family. Either from pity or 

 because they knew nob what else to do, the king- 

 fishers, both old and young, at last flew over to 

 join the disconsolate adventurer, and soon after- 

 wards the parents proceeded in earnest to feed 

 their brood. 



Next day, when I came again to the place, the 

 education of the kingfishers' family seemed to be 

 entering upon another stage. The little birds had 

 discovered a convenient perch close above a 

 shallow by the bank, and their parents, having 

 perhaps taken the failures of the previous day to 

 heart, were carrying thither minnows they had 

 captured by diving from the old oak-bough, and 

 were dropping them, disabled, into the ripples. 

 Now one, then another, of the fledglings would 

 dive in pursuit, and sometimes the three would 

 dive together and a tug-of-war would take place 



