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BIRDS OF THE WAVE AND WOODLAND 



Yet poets and others who draw so many morals from the 

 pearl being found in what they are pleased to call a " foul " 

 oyster, never allude, strangely enough, to Nature's pretty 

 lesson of the kingfisher, which comes arrayed in all its 



THE CAVE-HAUNTING MARTLET 



loveliness of plumage from the very dirtiest of holes. For 

 it is a sad fact that kingfishers have the most magnificent 

 contempt for everything like "sanitary arrangements;" 

 yet once they have left their nests they are the chiefest 

 jewels of the stream, among the prettiest things to be seen 



