THE KINGFISHER. 375 



cures the whole of its sustenance from insects in the circumambient 

 air. 



When I remarked above that the feet of the kingfisher are not 

 webbed, I did not wish it to be understood, that I consider the 

 webbed foot essentially necessary to the act of swimming. The 

 water-hen is an expert swimmer, without having the feet webbed ; 

 but then its form and plumage, so different from the form and 

 plumage of land birds, enable it to move with swiftness and with 

 safety, either on the water or under its surface. 



There is not much difference in appearance betwixt the adult male 

 and female kingfisher ; and their young have the fine azure feathers 

 on the back before they leave the nest. This early metallic brilliancy 

 of plumage seems only to be found in the birds of the pie tribe. It 

 obtains in the magpie, the jay, and, most probably, in all the rollers. 

 Wherever it is observed in the young birds, we may be certain that 

 the adult male and female will be nearly alike in colour. We are in 

 great ignorance, and I fear we shall long remain so, concerning colour 

 in the plumage of birds. The adult male and female kingfisher have 

 a very splendid display of fine tints ; so have the adult male and 

 female starling ; but though the young of the kingfisher have their 

 bright colours in the first plumage, we find the first plumage of the 

 young starlings pale and dull. I have had an eye to this circum- 

 stance for above thirty years, and still I am sorely in want of the 

 schoolmaster. 



The old story, that the kingfisher hovers over the water, in order 

 to attract the fish by the brightness of its plumage, is an idle surmise. 

 In the first place, fishes cannot see an object directly above them ; 

 and, secondly, if they could see it, there would be nothing brilliant 

 for them to look at in the kingfisher, as all the splendid feathers are 

 upon its upper parts. 



A brook runs through this park, and alongside of it grows a small 

 oak, part of the roots of which are bare, the earth and gravel having 

 gradually left them, and fallen into the stream below. In the bank 

 where these roots are seen, about six feet from the surface of the 

 water, is a hole in which a pair of kingfishers have had their nest, time 

 out of mind. They have afforded me the best possible opportunities 

 of examining their economy; and, from what I have seen, I am perfectly 



