254 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Description Mode of its catching fish. 



in breadth. The bill is near two inches long, 

 and black, but the base of the lower mandible is 

 yellow. The tongue is fleshy, short, flat, and acute. 

 The top of the head and the sides of the body 

 are of a dark green, marked with transverse spots 

 of blue: the tail is of a deep blue, and the other 

 parts of the body are dusky orange, white, and 

 black ; the legs are red; the wings are short, but 

 they fly very swiftly. 



The kingfisher is found throughout Europe. 

 It preys on the smaller fish. It sits frequently on 

 a branch projecting over the current; there it 

 remains motionless, and often watches whole 

 hours to catch the moment when a little fish 

 springs under its station; it dives perpendicularly 

 into the water, where it continues several se- 

 conds, and then brings up the fish, which it car- 

 ries to land, beats to death, and then swallows ; 

 but afterwards throws up the indigestible parts. 



When this bird cannot find a projecting bough, 

 it sits on some stone near the brink, or even on 

 the gravel; but the moment it perceives the fish, 

 it takes a spring upward of twelve or fifteen feet, 

 and drops perpendicularly from that height. Of- 

 ten it is observed to stop short in its rapid course, 

 and remain stationary, hovering (in manner not 

 unlike some of the hawk tribe) over the same 

 spot for several seconds. Such is its mode in 

 winter, when the muddy swell of the stream, or 

 the thickness of the ice, constrains it to leave the 

 rivers, and ply along the sides of the unfrozen 



