:::::::::*• TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO B:-"-" 



his mate, who was easily distinguished from him. The 

 hues of his plumage make him a gem in the sunlight ; 

 a few inches of glistening, iridescent green, a white 

 throat and collar, and a broad band of bright chestnut 

 across his breast. The female lacks this ruddy tint, but 

 in its place has two bars of beautiful green spots. The 

 kino-fisher's wini»s are liis chief glory, green like his 

 back, and when they are spread in Hight, a hundred 

 round spots of white flash out, as if his last dive had 

 strewn his wingfs with a myriad flecks of foam. His 

 habits differ considerably from those of our familiar 

 Belted Kingflsher, as when on the lookout for fish, 

 instead of selecthig an overhanging branch, he usually 

 prefers a boulder in mid-stream, or a flat sand-bar. In 

 the eddies behind such j)laces small fishes collected in 

 numbers, and the little iiKirfiii j^escador, as the Mexi- 

 cans call lilm, seldom went hungry. 



A pair aliglited one day on a sand-bar among the 

 sandpi})ers, waddled awkwardly to the edge, and peered 

 intently into the water, their absurd tails perpetually 

 jerking u]) and down. Suddenly, j)erceiving tlie object 

 of his desire, one of them described a half-circle in the 

 air and drop})ed with unerring aim upon a fish or poUy- 

 wog. The sandpipers ceased their probing for a mo- 

 ment to consider the strange iiuuKeuvres of this little 

 companion of theirs. As I shall mention later, when 

 water was scarce this sturdy little fellow was in no wise 

 discomfited. 



4 144 ^ 



