THE ANGLERS SOUVENIR. 



211 



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if 



were occupied by squirrels, and by hawks, jack- 

 daws, and other birds. 



But we think the prettiest object of all those 

 which greet the eye of the angler by the river- 

 side is the kingfisher, whether it skims so swiftly 

 along the river, midway between the banks, that 

 it looks like one continuous line of blue, and 

 green, and orange ; or, rarer and lovelier still, 

 when it hovers hawk-like over the water, and 

 then plunges down upon the fish below. No bird 

 is a greater favourite of ours than the kingfisher, 

 and we much regret that each year it is becoming 

 rarer, even on our most preserved streams. Its 

 beauty makes it sought after by every gunner, 

 who finds a ready market for its skin. Many are 

 the times we have stopped in our fishing to watch 

 it sitting on a bough projecting over the water, 

 its orange breast shining brightly against the fresh 

 green of the willows behind it. It sits motionless, 

 until the gleam of a minnow below attracts its 

 attention, and then it dives like a flash of coloured 

 light into the water, to reappear with a silvery 

 morsel in its beak. A toss and twist of its head, 

 and the fish is bolted, and the bird sits motionless 

 again. The kingfisher has been known to perch 

 upon the rod of an angler, when he has been 

 standing still and quiet on the bank. 



The kingfisher nests in holes in the bank. It 

 sometimes takes possession of the deserted hole 

 of a sand-martin, but more often, we imagine, it 



