L.THE KINGFISHER. 23 



This bird is becoming scarcer every year ; at one time 

 it was persecuted for the sake of its beautiful plumage to 

 adorn a lady's bonnet ; but now another and very formid- 

 able enemy has entered the field. The trout-breeders have 

 declared war to the knife against this poor bird, and nothing 

 will satisfy them but its complete extermination. 



We are quite aware that it does destroy a large number 

 of small fish sticklebacks, minnows, small trout, and the 



THE KINGFISHER. 



like ; but fish do not comprise the whole of his diet. It 

 does an immense amount of good by destroying vast 

 numbers of the greatest enemies to the young trout. 

 Yarrell (4th edition) says : " Its food consists of small 

 crustaceans, aquatic insects as dragon-flies and water- 

 beetles," the larvae of which are very destructive to trout 

 fry, " and little fishes, especially minnows and sticklebacks, 

 both of which prey upon the ova and fry of other fish, 

 whilst leeches are also said to enter into its diet." 



