THE KINGFISHER. 



Dear Children: 



I shall soon arrive from the 

 south. I hear that all the birds 

 are going to tell stories to the 

 boys and girls. 



I have never talked much with 

 children myself for I never really 

 cared for people. They used to 

 say that the dead body of a 

 Kingfisher kept them safe in 

 war and they said also that it 

 protected them in lightning. 



Even now in some places in 

 France they call us the moth 

 birds, for they believe that our 

 bodies will keep away moths 

 from woolen cloth. 



I wish that people would not 

 believe such things about us. 

 Perhaps you cannot understand 

 me when I talk. You may think 

 that you hear only a child's 

 rattle. 



Listen again ! It is I, the 

 Kingfisher. That sound is my 

 way of talking. I live in the 

 deep woods. I own a beautiful 

 stream and a clear, cool lake. 

 Oh, the little fish in that lake 

 are good enough for a king 

 to eat! I know, for I am a 

 king. 



You may see me or some of 

 my mates near the lake any 



pleasant day. People used to 

 say that we always brought 

 pleasant weather. That is a 

 joke. It is the pleasant weather 

 that always brings us from our 

 homes. When it storms or rains 

 we cannot see the fish in the lake. 

 Then we may as well stay in our 

 nests. 



My home once belonged to a 

 water rat. He dug the fine hall 

 in the gravel bank in my stream. 

 It is nearly six feet long. The 

 end of it is just the kind of a 

 place for a nest. It is warm, 

 dry and dark. In June my wife 

 and I will settle down in it. By 

 that time we shall have the nest 

 well lined with fish bones. We 

 shall put in some dried grass too. 

 The fish bones make a fine lin 

 ing for a nest. You know we 

 swallow the fish whole, but we 

 save all the bones for our nest. 



I shall help my wife hatch her 

 five white eggs and shall try in 

 every way to make my family 

 safe. 



Please tell the people not to 

 believe those strange things 

 about me and you will greatly 

 oblige, 



A neighbor, 



THE KINGFISHER. 



