104 FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



This, be it remembered, occurred in the back- 

 woods of Canada. It would be curious to learn 

 if any sportsmen or naturalists in our island have 

 ever noticed a surgical operation of this kind, 

 which surely indicates a scientific knowledge 

 beyond the reach of mere instinct. 



The Kingfisher's Kindergarten. Koskomenos, 

 the kingfisher, " still burrows in the earth like his 

 reptile ancestors," and other birds will have no- 

 thing to do with him, but he cares little for that, 

 being a clattering, rattle-headed, self-satisfied 

 fellow, who seems to do nothing all day but fish 

 and eat. He is plucky and pugnacious. Our 

 author who seems always to have an eye for 

 what is strange or new in the habits of all wild 

 creatures says that one day under his very eyes 

 he saw a kingfisher drive off a mink and almost 

 kill the savage creature, and at page 180 there is 

 a lovely picture of the encounter. 



The story of how the old birds educated the 

 young ones in catching minnows is too good and 

 quite too long to quote. In the first lesson the 

 young ones five of them are seen sitting in a 

 row on a branch overhanging the water, and the 

 old ones stuff them with minnows; then the old 

 ones, by way of going a stage further, find a pool 

 quite shut off from the main stream in which 

 they had deposited a dozen minnows for the 

 young to practise their skill upon. Koskomenos, 

 on the Canadian rivers, is a solitary fellow, with 



