7 S BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



be seen, the minnow must be sought for ; it is 

 not apparent to the sightless seer. When once 

 caught, however, it is not difficult to keep in 

 view, for the tiny green-brown things are ever 

 active, and the even tenor of their movements 

 is only at intervals broken by throwing up their 

 silvery bellies and displaying their bright colours 

 to the sun. As soon as the minnows eye an 

 intruder, they move off a foot from the shore, 

 flicking their tiny dorsal fins the while, and 

 causing quite a minnow-commotion. When quiet 

 is restored, they are quick to return, and to watch 

 them you climb into an overhanging alder bough. 

 As luck would have it, you have chosen well 

 your time, and are treated to quite a charming and 

 unexpected sight ; for another shoal of minnows 

 has attracted one of the presiding spirits of the 

 stream. Over there is a stunted, leafless bough, 

 and a kingfisher has just alighted upon it. At 

 first his form is motionless ; soon it assumes more 

 animation ; now is all eye and ear. Then it 

 darts, hangs for a moment in the air like a kestrel, 

 and returns to its perch. Again it darts with 

 unerring aim and secures something. This is 

 tossed, beaten, and broken with a formidable 

 beak, and then swallowed head foremost. The 

 process is again and again repeated, and you find 

 that the prey is small fish. From watching an 



