342 BRITISH BIRDS. 



4 



thologist may be fortunate enough to come upon it unobserved, and watch 

 its actions when searching for prey. The Kingfisher is, however, a shy and 

 wary creature, and too often the rapidly vibrating twig is the only race 

 of the bird, which, like a flash, has disappeared amongst the overhanging 

 branches. Fortune may sometimes favour the observer, and the bird may 

 alight on some twig over the stream, its weight causing it to swing gently 

 to and fro. It eagerly scans the shoal of young trout sporting in the pool 

 below, when suddenly it will drop down into the water, and, almost before 

 the spectator is aware of the fact, is back again to its perch with a 

 struggling fish in its beak. A few blows on the branch, and its prey is 

 ready for the dexterous movement of the bill which places it in a position 

 for swallowing. Sometimes the captured fish is adroitly jerked into the 

 air and caught as it falls ; and sometimes the bird flies off with it to a quiet 

 nook or to its nest to feed its hungry young. The Kingfisher may often 

 be seen to pause" in its rapid flight, and hover like a pygmy Kestrel above 

 the pool ere plunging down; and it may not unfrequently be noticed 

 thus fluttering above the water as if searching for food, tarrying a moment 

 here and there. 



The Kingfisher is a solitary bird, and each pair will often have a certain 

 beat, from which all intruders are driven off. It appears to be nowhere 

 very common, and is generally seen alone. A bird will often have a 

 favourite perch in some particular part of its haunt, where it spends 

 most of its time ; and by a careful study of this habit it can generally 

 be observed when desired. This perch is sometimes a long stout bramble 

 growing over the stream, a stump or an old root on the bank, a dead 

 stick in the middle of a pool, or a rock, or an old wall, or the masonry 

 of a water-wheel or sluice. You may frequently disturb the Kingfisher 

 from such a haunt, and find it there again a short time afterwards. 

 There it silently sits for hours, patiently on the watch for food, every 

 now and then plunging down into the water to secure a little fish or an 

 insect. When disturbed it darts rapidly off, following all the windings of 

 the stream, and usually uttering a feeble piping cry as it goes. The flight 

 of the Kingfisher is very rapid. The bird's wings are small and much 

 rounded ; but by rapidly beating them it is enabled to progress with great 

 speed. The flight is not generally long sustained, only sufficiently so to 

 convey the bird to a place of safety ; and in this respect it resembles the 

 Wren and many other round-winged birds, who seldom fly far. It is 

 wonderful how a Kingfisher will glide and turn and twist at full speed 

 through the branches without coming in contact with them. It seldom 

 flies very high, though Dixon has once seen it mount up into the air after 

 being fired at, and fly round and round above the trees. The Kingfisher 

 probably roosts at night in its nest-hole, or in some hole in the bank of 

 the stream, for its feet are scarcely adapted to roosting in bushes. 



