50



Mr. Hubert D. Astley,



twelve yards of my windows on a bare branch just above the moat,

and every few seconds he bobbed his head, looking intently into the

water beneath him. Perfectly still but for this bobbing' of the head,

he sat there for fully ten minutes, during which time my matutinal

dressing was delayed. Suddenly he pulled himself together, gazed

down with a greater alertness and then splash , and off he went to

the Flamingoes’ pond with a small dace in his long bill.


x\nother day, as I stood at one of the windows of the Dining-

Parlour, where the moat is within a few feet of the house, and kept

from it by a long bed of flowers and a narrow paved way, the King¬

fisher came shooting under the stone bridge with a silvery fish in

his bill, which contrasted wonderfully with the azure blue of his

upper plumage, as the rays of the morning sun shone on him. I

have, although I have been in my present home for thirteen months

never seen more than one, always I believe the same bird, but I hope

he may find a mate next year, and build in some spot that suits him

and her.


Nothing saddens me much more in the matter of bird des¬

truction than to constantly see stuffed Kingfishers. There they are

in taxidermists’ shop-windows, in gamekeepers’ cottages, and in

many a country inn, more often than not, most vilely set up as

well as moth-eaten ; besides which many are slaughtered by owners

of trout streams. That this bird of gorgeous plumage should be so

persecuted is to me monstrous. It is high time that the English,

who are horrified at the barbarity of the Germans in the wicked

war still raging, should instil into the rising generation a greater

respect for and interest in the beauties of our wild life, teaching

them from earliest years the pleasure to be derived from watching the

birds, and emphasizing the virtues of mercy and love towards them.

If the Kingfishers do prey upon very small trout, and as a rule these

birds are to be found in the smaller back waters where minnows

abound and form their food, cannot some be spared for these lovely

creatures ?


They perish enough as it is, during hard winters, when the

nights are freezingly cold and the ice covers up their breakfast and

dinner. Women too have worn their skins in their hats, more shame

to them ; our one British bird with really tropical colouring.



