CONCERNING SMALL FRY. 79 



hour, you are entranced at the beauty of the 

 fluttering, quivering thing as the sun shines upon 

 its green and gold vibrations in mid-air. You 

 gain some estimation, too, of the amount of 

 immature fish a pair of kingfishers and their 

 young must destroy in a single season. Later in 

 summer you may see the young brood, with 

 open, quivering wings, and constant calling, as 

 the parent birds fly to and fro. Their plumage is 

 little less brilliant than that of the adult. The 

 hole in which the young are reared is never made 

 by the parent birds, but always by some small 

 burrowing rodent, or occasionally by the little 

 sand-martin. The food of the kingfisher is almost 

 entirely fish minnows and sticklebacks forming 

 the principal part. Water-beetles, leeches, larvae, 

 and small trout, as well as the young of coarse 

 fish, are, however, all partaken of at times ;, and 

 during the rigour of winter, the kingfishers 

 betake themselves to the estuaries of tidal 

 rivers, where their food of molluscs and shore- 

 haunting creatures is daily replenished. Old 

 naturalists aver that the bird brings up its prey in 

 its feet ; but this is never so, as all food is taken 

 in the beak. 



A near view of minnows feeding affords a 

 charming sight. They rummage among the 

 aquatic plants, seize the tiniest morsels of animal 



