104



Correspondence.



fishers are habitually to be found on the small tributary streams of larger rivers,

which are just the places where trout go to spawn and where the fry are for some

months quite defenceless. If Kingfishers only fed on larger trout they would not

be so bad.


I venture to think that a safer ground of argument for preservation of

Kingfishers is that one has to choose between conflicting forms of life, and that

those who prefer Kingfishers to trout will let the Kingfishers do their worst, but

that it must be recognised that both Kingfishers and trout cannot happily exist

together. The fact that Kinfishers are often found near trout streams does not

conflict with this statement, because under present conditions Kingfishers are

kept down to a very small numbers or enormous numbers of trout have to be

supplied artifically to make up for depredations. There are a great many areas

in England where dace, minnows, etc., are found in abundance and no trout exist,

and those areas will support any number of Kingfishers.


As regards the destruction of the birds for purposes of stuffing or for

ladies’ hats, surely the true ground of attack is (a; that in the words of an Eastern

proverb “ A live dog is better than a dead lion,” and (b) that it is uneconomic to

destroy so great a proportion of the breeding stock, which is already severely

limited by the advance of civilization. C. BARNBY SMITH.


A- % *


I was unable to indicate with more detail the best methods for keeping

Kingfishers in captivity, since I have never attempted it.


Of course Mr. Barnby Smith is correct in stating that trout fry are found

in the small tributary streams of larger rivers, since the adult fish use them for

spawning, but in a natural state of things a sufficient number must eventually

grow up to fall a prey to man instead of to the Kingfishers, setting aside the

question of minnows. When I first went to live in Berkshire, with a goodly

portion of the Kennet flowing through the property, the trout-fishing, had not

been preserved on a long reach of the river near the house, yet one could always

kill some good fish, in spite of three or four Herons and a sprinkling of King¬

fishers, not to mention Otters. In former days, before trout were artificially

reared, when Kingfishers and other fish-eating birds were in greater abundance,

there must surely have always been trout, enough and to spare.


The truth is mankind is extraordinarily greedy and tenacious of what it

considers are its rights. There is oftentimes too much of the spirit which strives

to acquire and hold on to what it looks upon as having a claim to possess, which

spirit we see fully brought to bear in all its horrors by the German nation in this

wicked war. The English are, to the Germans, above all others, the King¬

fishers who dare to trespass on their rights of full possession. They are not

satisfied with sufficient trout, they must have all! !


HUBERT D. ASTLEY. — ED.



