BIRD-WATCHING 175 



right at the end of June, my sister went 

 out on to the banks of the lake with a 

 book. When she returned, she men- 

 tioned quite casually to me that a lovely 

 Kingfisher had been capturing fish in 

 front of her all the morning, and that 

 it kept carrying the fish into a hole in 

 the bank. I quickly went to the spot, 

 and there found the nest, and I could 

 tell by the excited cries of the young at 

 the end of the long hole in the bank 

 that they were almost ready to leave. 

 As soon as possible my hiding place was 

 erected near the nest, and I secured a 

 most successful photograph of one of the 

 parent birds carrying a fish to its young. 

 To give some idea of how little notice 

 the birds will take of you if you keep 

 still, the following incident is of interest. 

 Last year I was sitting behind a screen 

 with my cameras, waiting for a water 

 bird to come to its nest. The screen 

 consisted of two hurdles stuffed with 



