284 Wild Life in a Southern County 



bring it up to a level convenient for cattle. I had known 

 for some time that there was a nest in that mound from 

 the continued presence of the two old birds ; but could 

 not find it. But when the young could fly a little they 

 appeared on this branch projecting almost over the falling 

 water, and there they took up their station day after day. 

 Every now and then the parents came with small fish, 

 which they caught farther down the brook, for just in that 

 place there were only a few perch and perhaps a tench or 

 two. The colours are much less brilliant on the young 

 birds, and they do not obtain the deep rich hues of their 

 parents until the following spring. I have shot many 

 young birds in the winter ; they are by that time much 

 improved in colour, but may be distinguished without 

 difficulty from the full-grown bird. 



Though so swift, the kingfisher is comparatively easy to 

 shoot, because he flies as straight as an arrow ; and if you 

 can get clear of bushes or willow-pollards he may be 

 dropped without trouble. When disturbed the kingfisher 

 almost invariably flies off in one favourite direction ; and 

 this habit has often proved fatal to him, because the sports- 

 man knows exactly which way to look, and carries his gun 

 prepared. Wherever the kingfisher's haunt may be, he 

 will be found upon observation to leave it nearly always in 

 the same direction day after day. He is, indeed, a bird 

 with fixed habits, though apparently wandering aimlessly 

 along the streams. I soon found it possible to predict 

 beforehand in which haunt a kingfisher would be discovered 

 at any time. 



By noting the places frequented by these birds you 

 know where the shoals of small fish lie, and may supply 

 yourself with bait for larger fish. Often one of those great 

 hawthorn bushes that hang over a brook is a favourite 



