192 BIRDS OF THE WAVE AND WOODLAND 



This habit brings many of them to their death, for 

 there are still, in spite of all the appeals of the humane, 

 the protests of lovers of Nature, and the threatenings of 

 the law, numbers of men who call themselves fishermen 

 who try to do these lovely birds to death. That "halcyons" 

 eat fish, and nothing else if they can get enough of them, 

 is beyond all doubt, and when there are five young ones in 

 the nest in the bank, they must kill a great number. But 

 granting all this, the fact remains, that the man who would 

 go about to compass the killing of a kingfisher is not an 

 angler of the best type. 



However, in spite of them and all other enemies, this 

 sweet ornament of our rivers is still abundant, and there is 

 no secluded stream where the lover of Nature may not 

 enjoy himself with the sight of it at its work, patient and 

 clever, or admire its rare beauty as it fiashes up and down. 



" There came 

 Swift as a meteor's flashing flame 

 A kingfisher from out the brake, 

 And ahnost seemed to leave a wake 

 Of brilliant hues behind." 



Indeed, it takes a very quick eye, sometimes, to make 

 out the form of the bird as it passes : all that is seen is a 

 sudden trail of sapphire blue, which, meteor-like, vanishes 



