1 6 Oxford: Autumn and Winter. 



in its full natural plumage. 1 Can it be that the 

 swift flash of varying liquid colour, as the bird 

 darts from its perch into the water, is specially 

 calculated to escape the eye of the unsuspecting 

 minnow ? It nearly always frequents streams of 

 clear water and rather gentle flow, where its in- 

 tense brightness would surely discover it, even as 

 it sits upon a stone or bough, if its hues as seen 

 through a liquid medium did not lose their sheen. 

 But I must leave these questions to the philo- 

 sophers, and return to Parsons' Pleasure. 



The island which I have mentioned is joined 

 to Mesopotamia by another bridge just below the 

 weir ; and here is a second post of observation, 

 with one feature that is absent at the upper 

 bridge. There all is silent, unless a breeze is 

 stirring the trees ; here the water prattles gently 

 as it slides down the green slope of the weir into 

 the deep pool below. This motion of the water 

 makes the weir and this part of the Cherwell a 

 favourite spot of a very beautiful little bird, which 



1 Mr. O. V. Aplin, of Banbury, tells me that he has heard it 

 stated that if you shoot a Kingfisher, and it falls on the snow, 

 you cannot see it. 



