128 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



but, as all salmon fishermen are aware, they are 

 very soon spoiled, and after being used a few 

 times the colour disappears. For this reason I 

 always prefer to substitute the feathers of the 

 chatterer jay or the blue-enamelled thrush, which, 

 though possessing less lustre, are more per- 

 manent. 



Last summer (1894) a man fishing in the canal 

 at Kidlington, near Oxford, noticed a dead king- 

 fisher floating on the surface of the water. On 

 bringing it to land, he discovered that its death 

 had resulted from suffocation, a ruffe (a small fish 

 with a large back fin armed with sharp spines) 

 being fixed in its gullet. A cousin of mine, when 

 fishing in the same neighbourhood, observed a 

 kingfisher strike at a small fish and miss it ; 

 immediately afterwards it settled on the top of 

 his rod, and there remained for several seconds 

 preening its feathers. 



On another occasion a kingfisher darted 

 through the bars of the scullery window in the 

 house of another relation of mine in Lincoln- 

 shire, and, coming in contact with the lid of a 

 saucepan or some such article hanging on the 

 wall opposite, was killed. The bird doubtless 

 thought that the bright shining metal indicated a 

 hole in the wall. In this there was, perhaps, 

 nothing very remarkable, but it was worthy of 

 note, inasmuch as kingfishers are uncommon in 

 that immediate district ; and although there is a 

 large pond within a couple of hundred yards of 



