CEUYLE ALCYON, 43 



ten. Rarely does he miss his aim. If your 

 eyes are quick you will see the hapless " silver 

 side " feebly wriggling in the grip of that 

 powerful bill as Ceryle Alcyon emerges from 

 the dancing waves and resumes his perch, 

 happier, but none the wetter, on account of 

 the bath. Now the wonder of this vision-feat 

 is not in seeing the minnow from the perch, 

 but in continuing to see it during that arrow- 

 like descent into the water ; or, if you choose 

 to refer the success of the stroke to accuracy 

 of flight, then try to understand what 

 ftmazing accuracy it is ! .For, in that case, 

 Alcyon must take into exact account the dif- 

 ference between the apparent and the true 

 position of an object in the water as viewed 

 at an angle from without. 



The negroes of North Georgia Tiad caught 

 from the Cherokee Indians the art of making 

 the blow-gun, and I found one old slave who 

 firmly believed that a blow-gun arrow, pointed 

 with the lower mandible of the kingfisher, 

 was the only one with which the bird could 

 be killed. This fanciful conceit may be added 

 to the long catalogue of superstitions which 

 cling to the history of Alcyon. My archer 

 companion of the Salliquoy had the upper 

 band of his quiver decorated with a king- 

 fisher's head, to signify that his arrows 

 would fly straight to the living target. And 

 the badge was not an idle boast, for he stood 

 in my canoe and killed a green heron, stop- 

 ping it in mid flight w^ith a pewter-headed 

 shaft from a mulberry bow. 



Ceryle Alcyon digs its own burrow, which 

 it may be said to do on the wing, so rapid are 

 the motions connected with the performance. 

 The beginning of the excavation is made with 

 the bill, while the bird balances on its wings 



