THE EUROPEAN KINGFISHER. 



places. 

 Dixon, 



lARELY indeed is this charm- 

 ing bird now found in Eng- 

 land, where formerly it could 

 be seen darting hither and 

 thither in most frequented 

 late years, according to 

 has been persecuted so 

 greatly, partly by the collector, who 

 never fails to secure the brilliant 

 creature for his cabinet at every oppor- 

 tunity, and partly by those who have 

 an inherent love for destroying every 

 living object around them. Game- 

 keepers, too, are up in arms against 

 him, because of his inordinate love of 

 preying on the finny tribe. Where the 

 Kingfisher now is seen is in the most 

 secluded places, the author adds, 

 where the trout streams murmur 

 through the silent woods, but seldom 

 trod by the foot of man ; or in the 

 wooded gullies down which the stream 

 from the mountains far above rushes 

 and tumbles over the huge rocks, or 

 lies in pools smooth as the finest mir- 

 ror. 



The Kingfisher is comparatively a 

 silent bird, though he sometimes utters 

 a few harsh notes as he flies swift as a 

 meteor through the wooded glades. 

 You not unfrequently flush the King- 

 fisher from the holes in the banks, and 

 amongst the brambles skirting the 

 stream. He roosts at night in holes, 

 usually the nesting cavity. Sometimes 

 he will alight on stumps and branches 

 projecting from the water, and sit quiet 

 and motionless, but on your approach 

 he darts quickly away, often uttering 

 a feeble seep, -^^'^A as he goes. 



The habits of the English Kingfisher 

 are identical with those of the 

 American, though the former is the 

 more brilliant bird in plumage. (See 



Birds, Vol. I, p. 62.) The ancients 

 had a very absurd idea as to its nesting 

 habits. They believed that the bird 

 built a floating nest, and whenev^er the 

 old bird and her charge were drifted 

 by the winds, as they floated over the 

 briny deep, the sea remained calm. 

 He was, therefore, to the ancient 

 mariner, a bird held sacred in the 

 extreme. Even now these absurd 

 superstitions have not wholly dis- 

 appeared. For instance, the nest is 

 said to be made of the fish bones ejected 

 by the bird, while the real facts are, 

 that they not only nest but roost in 

 holes, and it must follow that vast 

 quantities of rejected fish bones 

 accumulate, and on these the eggs are 

 of necessity laid. 



These eggs are very beautiful 

 objects, being of a deep pinkish hue, 

 usually six in number. 



The food of the Kingfisher is not 

 composed entirely of fish, the remains 

 of fresh-water shrimps being found in 

 their stomachs, and doubtless other 

 animals inhabiting the waters are from 

 time to time devoured. 



The English Kingfisher, says Dixon, 

 remains throughout the year, but 

 numbers perish when the^ native ■ 

 streams are frozen. There is, perhaps, 

 not a bird in all the ranks of the 

 feathered gems of equatorial regions, 

 be it ever so fair, the Humming-bird 

 excepted, that can boast a garb so 

 lovely as this little creature of the 

 northland. Naturalists assert that the 

 sun has something to do with the 

 brilliant colors of the birds and insects 

 of the tropics, but certainly, the King- 

 fisher is an exception of the highest 

 kind. Alas, that he has no song to 

 inspire the muse of some English bard! 



1S8 



