KINGFISHER. 315 



the county, frequenting alike the rivers and broads, the 

 lakes and other fancy waters upon the large estates, and 

 the little drains and streamlets in the meadows, where 

 the winding brook meanders through the rushes, 

 or murmurs over the pebbles in our shady lanes. How 

 exquisitely beautiful is that bright streak of metallic 

 blue that seems to flash past us whilst fishing in some 

 quiet nook; when, the next instant, a shrill piping 

 cry, which I am wholly unable to convey in words, 

 assures us we are not far from the "Kingfisher's 

 haunt." Presently, perhaps, if we remain quiet, the 

 same beautiful creature returns again, and this time 

 arresting its rapid flight, perches on some low branch 

 projecting over the stream. What a glorious object, as 

 the sun glitters on its glossy plumes, and shows the 

 rich tints of its biU and feet. Suddenly it detects 

 some passing minnow, and dropping almost like a stone 

 into the water, re-appears in an instant, and flies back 

 with its victim to the same perch. A sharp tap or two 

 on the wood soon ends its struggles, and a dextrous 

 twist of the bird's beak brings the fish head downwards 

 into its capacious throat, whence facilis descensus averni. 

 Sometimes also the kingfisher, pausing in its flight, 

 hovers like a kestrel or a fishing tern before making its 

 plunge, and having seized its prey, flies off to some 

 convenient station to kill and swaUow it. Surely it 

 must be a mind of no ordinary insensibility that could 

 contemplate with indifference the wholesale destruction 

 of these living gems. Yet that which a savage might 

 feel remorse at, is being effected in many places through 

 the votaries of fashion. It probably never occurs to the 

 fair owners of those wicked little hats, which mark the 

 present age as one of the most fascinating epochs 

 in the history of female costume, that the adoption of 

 one particular feather, by some reigning beauty, may be 

 the death warrant of a species ! — the system of imitation 

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