i62 Bird -Lore 



The voung birds leave the earth about July 25. They are a somber-looking 

 lot, as for several days they sit tamely about the wharfs or venture on short, 

 erratic flights, which makes one feel that they have not yet got used to the light 

 after their long imprisonment underground. It is at this time that both parents 

 and young, somewhat crowded in the vicinity of the home nest by their sudden 

 increase in population, begin to seek out new fishing-stubs, or to use old ones 

 for the first time in the year. When the young are able to care for themselves, 

 the old birds leave them and lead once more the single life which they seem to 

 enjoy most. 



At this time of year, frequent quarrels occur among them, mostly about the 

 best fishing spots, and now that strange, whining note, which Herrick describes 

 as resembling the grating of two tree boughs in the wind, is often heard. It 

 appears to be a note of anger; I have heard it when one bird, wanting the perch 

 of another, hovered menacingly over him. Once I saw two birds dive simultane- 

 ously for the same spot in the water, the same note escaping them as each reluc- 

 tantly swerved aside. 



On such occasions one bird is often angrily pursued by another. These pur- 

 suits are most reckless and enduring in character. One sees the two birds swirl 

 bv like two blue flashes of light, to disappear in an instant of time on perfectly 

 controlled wings perhaps far away in the pine woods, almost grazing the tough 

 trunk of some mighty tree, or heading straight for a sheer cliff and rising fifteen 

 feet or more to clear it when it seems that they must be dashed to pieces on the 

 rock. I once saw a Kingfisher, hard-pressed in such a pursuit, adopt a clever 

 means of escape. His pursuer was close upon him — about five feet behind. On 

 they came down the creek, neither bird seeming to gain upon the other. Both 

 were flying at top speed low over the water. Suddenly there was a splash, and 

 the foremost Kingfisher disappeared under the water. The bird behind swept 

 on and lit on a nearby stub, not attempting to renew the chase when his enemy 

 reappeared. I cannot say that the first bird did not see a fish which he dived for, 

 but it appeared to me at the time like a very ingenious method for dampening 

 his o])i)oncnt's enthusiasm. 



The Kingfisher's flight is remarkable for its beauty. How easily those long 

 wings carry him about, as he skims so close over the water that their tips are 

 sometimes wetted, or, as he hovers, his body appearing absolutely motionless, 

 in that wonderful way which few birds can equal, for indefinite periods of time. 

 Sometimes, especially in water half a foot or less in depth, he dives while flying 

 nearly parallel to its surface. Sometimes, in this journeys from perch to perch 

 when fish are plentiful, he dips again and again into the water in this way, remind- 

 ing one of the Swallow as he gracefully touches the water lure and there in his 

 flight over the mill-j)ond. Again, he dro])s like a falling stone in a nearly perpen- 

 dicular line upon his fishy prey. 



But, however interesting his actions on the wing may be. his ])ostures and 

 general conduct on the hunting stub also demand our attention. Studer, on page 



