156 By Leafy Ways. 



Suddenly, from his unseen station a flash of blue 

 light along the brown water darts a kingfisher. 

 Down he goes ; there is a gleam of red and azure 

 among the silver of the scattered spray ; then, with a 

 minnow glittering in his beak, he goes back to his 

 perch on the low bough hanging over the water, to 

 beat the life out of his prey before swallowing it. Or 

 maybe he carries it off to the steep bank below the 

 weir, where, half hidden by ferns and trailing ivy, and 

 screened by the great elms which join hands across 

 the stream, his expectant brood, standing up like 

 storks at the mouth of their hole, scream a chorus of 

 impatience and delight at the appearance of dinner. 



