342 BRITISH BIRDS. 
thologist may be fortunate enough to come upon it unobserved, and watch 
its actions when searching for prey. The Kingfisher is, however, a shy and 
wary creature, and too often the rapidly vibrating twig is the only race 
of the bird, which, like a flash, has disappeared amongst the overhanging - 
branches. Fortune may sometimes favour the observer, and the bird may 
alight on some twig over the stream, its weight causing it to swing gently 
to and fro. It eagerly scans the shoal of young trout sporting in the pool 
below, when suddenly it will drop down into the water, and, almost before 
the spectator is aware of the fact, is back again to its perch with a 
struggling fish in its beak. A few blows on the branch, and its prey is 
ready for the dexterous movement of the bill which places it in a position 
for swallowing. Sometimes the captured fish is adroitly jerked into the 
air and caught as it falls ; and sometimes the bird flies off with it to a quiet 
nook or to its nest to feed its hungry young. The Kingfisher may often 
be seen to pause in its rapid flight, and hover like a pygmy Kestrel above 
the pool ere plunging down; and it may not unfrequently be noticed 
thus fluttering above the water as if searching for food, tarrymg a moment 
here and there. 
The Kingfisher is a solitary bird, and each pair will often have a certain 
beat, from which all intruders are driven off. It appears to be nowhere 
very common, and is generally seen alone. A bird will often have a 
favourite perch in some particular part of its haunt, where it spends 
most of its time; and by a careful study of this habit it can generally 
be observed when desired. This perch is sometimes a long stout bramble 
growing over the stream, a stump or an old root on the bank, a dead 
stick in the middle of a pool, or a rock, or an old wall, or the masonry 
of a water-wheel or sluice. You may frequently disturb the Kingfisher 
from such a haunt, and find it there again a short time afterwards. 
There it silently sits for hours, patiently on the watch for food, every 
now and then plunging down into the water to secure a little fish or an 
insect. When disturbed it darts rapidly off, following all the windings of 
the stream, and usually uttering a feeble piping cry as it goes. The flight 
of the Kingfisher is very rapid. The bird’s wings are small and much 
rounded ; but by rapidly beating them it is enabled to progress with great 
speed. The flight is not generally long sustained, only sufficiently so to 
convey the bird to a place of safety ; and in this respect it resembles the 
Wren and many other round-winged birds, who seldom fly far. It is 
wonderful how a Kingfisher will glide and turn and twist at full speed 
through the branches without coming in contact with them. It seldom 
flies very high, though Dixon has once seen it mount up into the air after 
being fired at, and fly round and round above the trees. The Kingfisher 
probably roosts at night in its nest-hole, or in some hole in the bank of 
the stream, for its feet are scarcely adapted to roosting in bushes. 
a 
