' you. x1.| NOTES ON THE KINGFISHER. 223 
Not until they were feeding the young on fish did I find 
one of their fishing-stations. This was about a quarter 
of a mile up stream, the lowest branch of an overhanging 
willow. Here the bird seemed to have forgotten her habit, 
sO conspicuous whenever she perched in the vicinity of 
the nest, of jerking her head and tail, a movement which 
always brings to my mind the Ringed Plover. She sat 
perfectly motionless, intent on the water beneath, suddenly 
to dive and shoot back with a fish, which was promptly 
swallowed. Then she 
dived again and came 
up apparently empty- 
“handed.” A_ third 
time she dived and 
returned with a fish, 
this time banging it 
four or five times on 
the perch, and then 
disappearing down 
stream with it. Her 
method of diving was 
quite similar to that 
on the day when I 
saw her taking a bath, 
but there was no 
attempt at preening 
this time. 
Here and at the 
nest her attitude when 
perching was always 
the same, with the USUAL ATTITUDE OF ADULT WHEN PERCHING. 
tail hanging down Drawn by W. Rowan. 
perpendicularly. When 
the head was jerked the tail was simultaneously jerked 
forwards, bobbing for a second right under the perch. I 
never saw either of the birds adopt any of those fantastic 
attitudes so frequently attributed to them in illustrations. 
My sketch (Fig. 2) is one of a series made at the time. 
Just before flight there is a general compression of the. 
plumage, when for a second there is a leaning forward, before 
the precipitate launch into the air, but to the last moment 
the tail points down. 
I never saw the two birds at the same time, nor did I see 
either of them hover over the water, as they are said to do 
on occasions preparatory to diving. 1 did see one of them, 

