138 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



unerringly I did my duty as public executioner, there was always a King- 

 fisher carrying on the war against the fingerlings whenever I arose from 

 my night's rest or returned from a day's excursion. Sometimes two 

 kingfishers were on the pond at the same time, but they were always more 

 or less hostile to each other except in the case of parent Kingfisher and young 

 which often came together just after the young were out of the nest. Many a 

 time I have been near this trout pond when a new Kingfisher arrived. They 

 came mostly by two routes, either up the brook at a moderate elevation, 



Young kingfishers 



Photo by James H. Miller 



or flying overland at a height of 100 to 300 feet. When coming in 

 from the overland journey they rushed down in a wide, sweeping course, 

 uttering an unusually loud, shrill, rattling scream, settled on some elevated 

 perch, erected to the utmost their long crests, repeated sotto voce the 

 announcement of arrival or discovery, tilted the short tail to its utmost, 

 bowed with a rather ungainly sweep at the pond, and forthwith began 

 to consider the prospects of fishing. 



