THE KINGFISHER 



ALCEDO ISP1DA 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A widely distributed 

 if local resident, but has been more or less exterminated 

 -in many localities. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Kingfisher is occasionally seen on the Thames 

 from Battersea upwards, and it also frequents the Wandle, 

 Beverley, Brent, Colne, and Lea, as well as the Paddington 

 Canal, at no great distance from the central portions of 

 our radius, besides paying irregular visits to various minor 

 streams, watercress-beds, sewage-farms, and open sheets 

 of water, even as centrally situated as Kensington Gar- 

 dens. - An odd example was once captured at Camden 

 Town. It is, however, a very local species, nowhere 

 numerous, and its breeding-places are few and far be- 

 tween. In some localities the bird has almost been 

 exterminated, or is rapidly decreasing in numbers ; in 

 others, I am pleased to record, it is certainly on the 

 increase, and a strict enforcement of the law which gives 

 it protection in the London suburbs should enable it to 

 become a yet commoner bird. It seems a pity even to 

 indicate the approximate breeding range of the King- 

 fisher round London, even so far as it is known to myself 

 and several valued correspondents, so I refrain from 

 doing so. I know only too well how the bird is hunted 

 near London, and quite recently an instance of this came 

 to my knowledge from the Brent district, near Wembley, 

 where a nest was wantonly destroyed, and the birds have 

 quite deserted the place. There are still Kingfishers close 

 to London City ; greater publicity would only tend to 

 disturb them. 



The Kingfisher, the most brightly coloured British 

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