INDIAN AND BRITISH KINGFISHERS 127 



them to be absolutely true. For the rest, I leave 

 the reader to think and say what he pleases. 

 There is but little one can say when one's feelings 

 are so grievously outraged. I can only feel too 

 thankful that there are no such bird-murderers 

 in the county in which I reside. I rarely fail 

 to see two or three kingfishers during my walks 

 by the side of the river, for scarcely an hour 

 passes without one or other of these birds show- 

 ing itself as it wings its way up and down the 

 stream. 



Our British variety, though small, is perhaps as 

 beautiful as any of the tribe. When snipe-shoot- 

 ing in India, I observed two different species, one 

 exactly similar to our own, and a larger gray- 

 spotted kind. I have also seen them in large 

 numbers fishing together in some of the streams 

 which surround the dj heels. Very beautiful they 

 were, with the sunlight falling on their brilliant 

 plumage as they hovered in the air. I shot some 

 two or three on different occasions in order to 

 examine them more closely. The gray variety 

 is not remarkable for any beauty of form or 

 colouring indeed, may be described as a plain 

 bird ; but those which resemble our British 

 bird are slightly larger, and 1 do not think 

 quite as brilliant. The vivid colours of the king- 

 fisher's plumage fades very rapidly after death, 

 almost as quickly as those of a freshly-caught 

 mackerel. The bright blue feathers are much 

 used in the manufacture of certain salmon-flies ; 



