444 ALCEDINIDJ:. 



any part of the country, have of late years very sensibly 

 decreased. A frivolous fashion has at times helped to make 

 it scarcer, but perhaps not to the extent that some writers 

 have urged ; for, through the instability of fancy, the ques- 

 tionable taste which has more than once seized ladies of 

 adorning their dress with its plumage has generally been 

 short-lived. The makers of artificial flies keep up a steady 

 demand for Kingfisher's feathers, and thus furnish an addi- 

 tional motive for its destruction ; but the most constant 

 persecution the species undergoes arises rather from the 

 delight — the survival, possibly, of an ancient superstition to 

 be presently noticed — so many people take in possessing its 

 stuffed skin, which, placed in a glazed box, is regarded as a 

 desirable ornament of a room ; and to this end more King- 

 fishers are probably shot or netted for English bird-stuffers 

 than any other species. 



Well known throughout the three kingdoms, the King- 

 fisher cannot be said to be anywhere numerous. It frequents 

 the banks of streams of all sizes, from our largest rivers to 

 the shallowest brooks, if they be not too rapid, as well as 

 lakes, ponds and, at some times of the year, the sea-shore. 

 Its food consists of small crustaceans, aquatic insects, such 

 as dragon-flies or water-beetles, and little fishes — especially 

 minnows and sticklebacks, while leeches are also said to 

 enter into its diet. It is most often seen glancing over the 

 surface of the water, or perched on an overhanging bough 

 or stump, stone or railing by the margin, whence it watches 

 for its prey, and occasionally it may be observed for a few 

 seconds poised on the wing, like an Osprey or a Kestrel, 

 preparatory to the plunge which is to secure its booty. Its 

 captures are always made by dropping almost perpendicularly 

 into the water : its submergence however is but momentary, 

 and hardly is it lost to sight beneath the surface, than it 

 rises again in a slanting direction and makes for one of its 

 usual stations on the bank — the prey, if a fish, being held 

 crosswise in its bill, and often, from its gleaming scales, 

 plainly visible. Keaching its perch a few vigorous blows 

 against the stock or stone deprive the victim of motion, and 



