By River and Pool. 201 



whether the Pochard breeds here or not. We have 

 seen it during autumn and spring, perhaps on passage 

 only ; but it certainly breeds in Yorkshire at Horn- 

 sea Mere, in the East Riding. We have also re- 

 marked several of the above-named species on the 

 beautiful ponds at Newstead Abbey, once the classic 

 home of Byron, during the early summer months, 

 so that some of them may breed in this immediate 

 neighbourhood. 



Returning now to the rivers of our northern shires, 

 we will briefly glance at one or two birds that are 

 specially associated with such water-ways. Here in 

 Yorkshire, Dipper, Gray Wagtail, and Heron may 

 perhaps be the most familiar birds, but to our mind 

 the Kingfisher is the* most distinguished, and from 

 some points of view the most interesting. We al- 

 ways think a special charm attaches to birds that 

 have a place in ancient history, or that are surrounded 

 by more or less classic legends and superstitions. 

 The Kingfisher is one of these. From the very 

 earliest times of which we possess any record, the 

 bird, for some reason that to the modern mind does 

 not seem always very clear, has figured largely in 

 myth and superstition. Some of these are by no 

 means wanting in poetic imagination. Legend, for 

 instance, accounts for the beautiful colour of its 

 plumage in the following amusing way: When the 

 Kingfisher was liberated from the Ark it was a 



