HOUND A LONDON COPSE. 161 



remove to a place where there is more furze, but 

 beside the same hedge. The determination and fierce 

 resolution of the shrike, or butcher-bird, despite his 

 small size, is most marked. One day a shrike darted 

 down from a hedge just before me, not a yard in front, 

 and dashed a dandelion to the ground. 



His claws clasped the stalk, and the flower was 

 crushed in a moment ; he came with such force as to 

 partly lose his balance. His prey was probably a 

 humble-bee which had settled on the dandelion. The 

 shrike's head resembles that of the eagle in miniature. 

 From his favourite branch he surveys the grass, and 

 in an instant pounces on his victim. 



There is a quiet lane leading out of one of the roads 

 which have been mentioned down into a wooded 

 hollow, where there are two ponds, one on each side 

 of the lane. Standing here one morning in the early 

 summer, suddenly a kingfisher came shooting straight 

 towards me, and swerving a little passed within three 

 yards ; his blue wings, his ruddy front, the white 

 streak beside his neck, and long bill were visible for 

 a moment ; then he was away, straight over the 

 meadows, till he cleared a distant hedge and dis- 

 appeared. He was probably on his way to visit 

 his nest, for though living by the streams king- 

 fishers often have their nest a considerable way from 

 water. 



Two years had gone by since I saw one here before, 

 perched then on the trunk of a willow which overhangs 

 one of the ponds. After that came the severe winters, 

 and it seemed as if the kingfishers were killed off, for 

 they are often destroyed by frost, so that the bird 



