UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 177 



assist me as much as possible. I shewed him 

 the old quarry, and boldly described all that I 

 intended to do frequently referring to hints I 

 had picked up from his conversations with Mr. 

 Biggs. My uncle said he was rejoiced to find 

 that I could attend so well to general conver- 

 sation, and gave me the quarry to reward me. 

 When I had finished what I had to do in my 

 garden, he and Mr. Lumley took Frederick and 

 me to walk with them, and I heard numbers of 

 entertaining things, much more than I can now 

 put in my journal. 



We left the forest, and passing through the 

 open fields which lie between it and the Severn, 

 we walked for some time close by the edge of 

 the river. I saw a beautiful bird sitting on a 

 projecting stone, and we all stopped to observe 

 it ; sometimes fluttering its wings, and exposing 

 its brilliant blue, green, and red plumage to the 

 sun. It then took wing, and hovered in the air 

 for some time, watching for the moment to dart 

 on its victim. At last we saw it make a spring 

 of twelve or fifteen feet upwards, and then drop 

 perpendicularly into the water, where it remained 

 several seconds. It was a kingfisher, which 

 Mr. Lumley told me is a very common bird on 

 the continent. He says it is shy and solitary, 

 frequenting banks of rivers, where it will sit still 

 for hours, as we saw it. It usually takes posses- 

 sion of a hole in the bank, which had previously 



