46 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



damage to a stream. I believe the naturalist's verdict 

 would be, the kingfisher. 



Last year two pairs of kingfishers made their nests in 

 the banks of a small river that runs close to my house, 

 and I took great dehght in watching for hours the birds 

 bringing food to their young. Unfortunately, some 

 wretched bov discovered one of the nests, and he reached 

 the young birds by digging away the hght loamy soil of 

 the bank, and scooped out a great portion of the nest 

 itself, which was entirely composed of the bones and 

 scales of small fish (it has a most evil odour). There 

 must have been hundreds of these small fish to make so 

 large a mass, and it was a mystery to me what became 

 of the flesh, for the birds did not occupy many days in 

 building their nest ; and it would have been physically 

 impossible during the time they were so engaged to 

 devour the fish themselves. Possibly the fish were 

 allowed to rot in the nest ; hence the frightful stench 

 thereof. 



Let not the reader for one moment suppose that I 

 am playing off the kingfisher against the otter, for I 

 should feel inclined to deal with the man who shot one 

 of those beautiful birds on my stream as he dealt with 

 the bird ; but I do not think it just or reasonable, where 

 both creatures have a great attraction for a lover of 

 Nature, to wage inveterate war against the lesser, whilst 

 a wise Government punishes the man who shoots the 

 greater fish-poacher. 



One is, of course, bound to admit that upon trout 



