THE KINGFISHER. 91 



front. He does look sad, now, does he not ? All the 

 more so while he is forced to listen to the uproarious 

 fun of his two neighbors immediately behind him. 

 Never mind, " Jack," you will have your turn pre- 

 sently. " He laughs best who laughs last." 



You evidently feel slighted and hurt, we all know 

 what that means. Laughing men and laughing jack- 

 asses have a common experience in some respects. Do 

 you know, reader, the first prerequisite for a good 

 dinner of snake ? Get your snake. That is what our 

 friend who is foremost in the picture is probably now 

 looking for. He is not going to wait long. 



There are many kinds of snakes, and several of 

 them are venomous. That is why these birds are 

 so carefully protected. 



If his snakeship should happen to be a good sized 

 one and a little refractory, the bird will ascend very 

 rapidly directly over rocks or over the hard road, to 

 the height of three or four hundred feet, and let him 

 fall. If the snake should seem to be a little too lively 

 after his fall, he gets a second one inside of a minute, 

 after which he is perfectly manageable. 



Like every good laugher he does best when he has 

 plenty of company, and really one of the most amus- 

 ing things you will hear in Australia is a laughing 

 chorus from three or four, or more, of these very 

 queer birds. 



