iS'Sy-SS.] Ah OrnitJiological Visit to WarzvicksJiire. 153 



enable the birds to extract their food more readily from the 

 crevices and holes in the bark. 



The kingfisher, thanks in a great measure to the Wild Birds 

 Protection Act, is not yet extinct, although a few years ago it 

 seemed to be on the highroad to annihilation, from the craze 

 among the vulgar of all classes to possess a stuffed specimen 

 as a chamber ornament, but perhaps more so from the equally 

 culpable desire on the part of the fair sex to add its brilliant 

 plumage to the already numerous adjuncts brought into requi- 

 sition in the manufacture of that wonderful work of art, the 

 modern " bonnet." It is matter for great satisfaction, how- 

 ever, and, I venture to say, to no one more so than to all 

 ladies of right feeling themselves, to learn that this cruel 

 fashion is on the wane : let us hope it may die out so entirely 

 as only to be remembered among the barbarities of the past. 

 It would be unfair to put all the blame of its diminution on 

 the shoulders of the two aforesaid classes, as naturalists them- 

 selves have been considerable sinners in that respect ; but the 

 extenuating circumstance in their case is that the birds are 

 sought after chiefly in the interests of science, whereas this 

 excuse cannot by any elasticity of conception be made in either 

 of the former instances. Although not nearly so plentiful as 

 formerly, yet a considerable number frequent the course of the 

 Avon and its tributary streams, and on many of our own Low- 

 land burns and rivers it appears again to be making headway. 

 On the Tweed and its tributaries it is not by any means a 

 chance straggler, as there are many parts it haunts regularly, 

 and in bird-life there are few more interesting sights than to 

 watch this gaudy -robed species darting up and down the 

 stream, following every bend and turning, uttering from time 

 to time its peculiar whistling note, reminding one to a certain 

 extent of the water-ousel and common sand-piper, which also 

 emit a shrill sharp whistle during the progress of flight. 

 Curiously enough, the cognomen " kingfisher " is occasionally 

 applied in Scotland to both of those birds, although quite 

 erroneously. The species in question, notwithstanding its 

 tropical costume, is a hardy bird, and would flourish excel- 

 lently well on our rivers, if only the same privilege was ac- 

 corded to it that our Eoman Catholic brethren enjoy of " rest- 

 ing in peace." Those of us who have had the privilege of 



