PERCHING BIRDS. 159 
but not subsequently. Could this have been a late- 
hatched bird which had not migrated? I should hardly 
be inclined to entertain such a supposition ; for where 
could it have found caterpillars, grasshoppers, and other 
summer insects, which are its chief food, to support it 
through the winter? I am more disposed to think it 
was an unusually early arrival, and that, as it was not 
heard again, it most likely perished from cold and want 
of food, 
None of our birds can boast of more beautiful plumage 
than the little Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida) ; the glossy 
metallic blues and greens with which it is adorned seem 
to belong more to the parrots, trogons, and other species 
peculiar to warm or tropical countries. Indeed, when I 
watch the rapid flight of a kingfisher, it always reminds 
me strongly of some of the Australian parrakeets, espe- 
cially the Lathamus discolor, the metallic colours of 
whose plumage show most brilliantly during their glane- 
ing flight, particularly when the sun is shining. 
The kingfisher is constantly to be seen, and yet is not 
an abundant species with us. The two small streams, 
the Morn and the Idle, which intersect our forest dis- 
trict, are very favourable to its habits and requirements ; 
but though it delights to seek its food in secluded spots, 
it does not coufine itself to such, and I have repeatedly 
seen several glancing up and down the stream which 
runs past the village, and darting through the arches of 
the bridge as I stood on it. I have even taken its eggs 
from a hole in the bank of the stream within a stone- 
throw of some houses, and of my own garden. 
The nest of the kingfisher is another of those questions 
on which naturalists have greatly differed, aud I know 
not that my own observations have enabled me to throw 
