32 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



Now, the kingfisher is blue, and I am puzzled 

 to know why, on this one occasion, it appeared 

 green. I have, In a former work, Argentine 

 Ornithology, described a contrary effect in 

 a small and beautiful tyrant-bird, Cyanotis 

 azarae, variously called, In the vernacular, "All- 

 colored or Many-colored Kinglet." It has a little 

 blue on Its head, but Its entire back, from the 

 nape to the tall, Is deep green. It lives In beds 

 of bulrushes, and when seen flying from the spec- 

 tator in a very strong light, at a distance of 

 twenty or thirty yards, its colour in appearance 

 Is bright cerulean blue. It Is a sunlight effect, but 

 how produced is a mystery to me. In the case of 

 the two green kingfishers, I am Inclined to think 

 that the yellow of that shining field of buttercups 

 in some way produced the Illusion. 



Why are these exquisite birds so rare, even in 

 situations so favourable to them as the one I have 

 described? Are they killed by severe frosts? An 

 ornithological friend from Oxfordshire assures 

 me that it will take several favourable seasons to 

 make good the losses of the late terrible winter 

 of 1891-92. But this, as every ornithologist 

 knows, is only a part of the truth. The large 



