186 IN BIRD-LAND 



it must be a male. At first it seemed that he 

 might settle on my lap ; but choosing the stem of 

 a dock plant on my left and slightly lower down, 

 he settled comfortably on that. The fish taken 

 had no doubt been rather large, for the bird gave 

 one or two gulps, half opening his beak as if choking. 

 All inconvenience was soon overcome, however, 

 and then it was necessary to settle down to enjoy 

 a quiet rest. After drawing in his head, ruffling 

 up his feathers, giving himself a good shaking, the 

 bird closed his eyes and apparently went to sleep ; 

 this gave me the opportunity of taking breath, 

 and moving so as to have a better view of such an 

 interesting visitor. In a few minutes his eyes 

 opened, and I seemed to be noticed for the first 

 time. Sitting up and opening his eyes wider, the 

 bird gazed steadily at me for a while, first with one 

 eye, then with both. My writing-paper seemed 

 to attract attention ; then, with head on one side. 

 in quite a coquettish manner, he looked up and our 

 eyes met. I could hardly help smiling in response, 

 but knowing that if I moved a muscle my coy 

 visitor would be off, I remained quite still. At 

 length the Kingfisher moved his head round, and 

 seemed to be taking stock of me from head to foot, 

 after looking well at my papers. As I remained 

 motionless the bird may have thought that I was a 



