282 THE KING- FISHER. 



sight, and rub their bills against them without the 

 slightest dread. As soon as the fowler perceives that 

 they are perfectly fearless, he scoops out a hole large 

 enough to contain his head, and wading slowly into 

 the water, lets only the gourd appear upon the surface 

 of the stream : the unsuspicious fowls approach their 

 destroyer without, experiencing the slightest degree of 

 dread; he then catches them by the legs, jerks them 

 under the water, and fastens them to a belt prepared 

 round his waist ; and when he has secured as many as 

 he can carry, quietly returns to the opposite shore. 



THE KING-FISHER. 



We shall now conclude the history of birds with the 

 account of one that seems to unite in itself something 

 of each preceding class; it appears possessed of appe- 

 tites for prey like those of the rapacious kind, and an 

 attachment to the water like those birds which exist by 

 its aid. It exhibits, in its form, the beautiful plumage 

 of the peacock, the shadings of the humming-bird, the 

 bill of the crane, and the short legs of the swallow. 



The king-fisher is not larger than the latter named 

 bird, though much more clumsy in its shape; the legs 

 are small, and the bill disproportionably long, being 

 two inches from the tip to the base ; the upper chap 

 black, and the lower one yellow ; but its colours atone 

 for the inelegancy of its make. The crown of the head, 

 and the coverts of the wings, are of a deep blackish 

 grey, spotted with azure, most beautifully bright ; the 

 back and tail are of the same colour, and the under 

 part of the body is orange, a broad line of which 

 passes from the bill to the eyes, which terminates in a 

 large spot of white : the tail is short, and consists of 

 twelve feathers of a rich and very deep blue ; the feet 



