THE BELTED KINGFISHER 159 



was sticking out over the water and not twenty steps 

 away, and looking up, I was dumfounded to see a great 

 awkward bird that seemed all head and bill. This bird was 

 wholly new to me, and of course the fish were forgotten 

 in the new interest. I had never seen a picture or heard 

 anything that gave me any clue to what this bird was. 

 Presently the bird straightened up, ruffled his topknot, 

 and looked more grotesque than ever. Then he settled 

 down quietly to watch the water. Evidently he had not 

 noticed me, and I sat immovable the only way one can 

 become really acquainted with the wildlings. For perhaps 

 ten or fifteen minutes he sat perfectly still, and then with- 

 out warning this strange bird apparently fell off his perch 

 head first into the water. He dropped straight and stiff 

 as an arrow, and it was not until I saw him rising out of 

 the water with a fish gleaming in his bill that I became 

 aware that he had not had a stroke of apoplexy, but was 

 really alive and that this was his method of earning a liv- 

 ing. He lighted on the snag from which he had fallen 

 and began vigorously hammering his prize on the limb. 

 When he was convinced that the poor fish was beaten into 

 insensibility he flew up the brook carrying it with him. 



Already the sun was low in the west, and tho I was re- 

 luctant to go without learning more about this interesting 

 stranger, I turned homeward. As soon as I met some one 

 who I thought would take some interest in the matter, I 

 told the story of what I had seen, and to my surprize 

 found that I had made no discovery at all, but was merely 

 telling the story of one of our best known and most widely 

 distributed birds, the belted kingfisher. 



I have since traveled much in almost every part of these 

 United States, and have found these birds practically 



