58 THE HALCYON, OR KINGFISHER 



Its dimen- a trifle over seven inches ; width with outstretched 

 vans. w ings, only ten. Compare these dimensions with 

 those of the swift Length, scarcely eight inches; 

 width seventeen ! It might well be inferred that the 

 kingfisher is incapable of a long-sustained flight, such 

 as the swift thinks nothing of, even though it extends 

 to thousands of miles ; yet ' the sea-blue bird ' spends 60 

 much of its time on the wing, and flies with a rapidity 

 which tasks the eye. The wing is not only short, but 

 hollow ; and it may be that this hollowness makes for 

 celerity in flying. 



Its hues But the colouring of the bird, most people will say, 

 *' ' makes amends for its disproportion of form. The 

 brilliancy of the tints, whether seen when the bird is 

 in motion or when it is at rest, is simply indescribable. 

 It flies low on the water, preferring a stream with 

 banks fairly steep ; and, therefore, the general impres- 70 

 sion one has of its hues as an elusive adornment of the 

 air is received from its upper feathers. The observer 

 looks down from the bank and sees, as Tennyson saw, 

 a sea-purple bird 'like a finer light in light ' flit by ; 

 more correctly, sees a little bird with back of azure- 

 blue passing into green. If the water be still and 

 clear, as it usually is when the kingfisher goes forth to 

 feed, the happy observer may also see, as Keats saw, 

 delighted, the reflection of its under side fleeting past 

 him with ungracious haste a lovely vision of mingled so 

 rose and gold. If he come upon it perched by the far 

 side of a pool, it is the glowing tints of its throat and 

 breast that catch his eye against the natural back- 

 ground of grasses or green leaves ; and he may be 

 wondering whether it is not some rare flower of exotic 

 beauty that has got somehow among the sombre 



