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When j^erclied on its commanding stand-point, from the tarsi being entirely 

 concealed by the over-lapping breast feathers, its figure is greatly puffed out ; 

 its contour assumes a rotundity quite aldermanic. Its omnivorous propensities 

 and monstrous appetite duly considered, perhaj)S the resemblance might be 

 carried still farther than a fancied likeness, when apparently suffering the 

 pangs of repletion. This ravenous appetite, iiseful as it pi-oves in many 

 respects, we fear often leads its possessor into trouble. The Kingfisher is not 

 afraid of man, does not shun the cultivated homestead ; it finds the unplumed 

 biped profitable, as in the sweat of his brow and by the toil of his strong hands, 

 fields are ploughed and gardens dug where the root-matted earth has never 

 been exposed before, and a rich feast is provided for the robust-beaked bird, into 

 whose craving maw the larvae of many destructive insects descend, to the 

 great advantage of the cultivator. Its labours even then are not always 

 gratefully appreciated ; its gaudy plumage often ensures tribulation, perhaps 

 death, and then in a glass case, surrounded by brilliant butterfiies, seaweed, 

 moss, shells, and such like appropriate accessories, it undergoes a species of 

 apotheosis, from its place on high, glaring fixedly at the world beneath. 



On looking at its favourite perches about the beach (it is a creatiii-e of 

 habit, and makes use of the same resting place again and again), remains of 

 Crustacece may be found, on posts, trees, rocks, thwarts or gunwales of boats ; 

 amongst the disjecta membra we have seen, yet rarely, the remains offish. It 

 does not wholly despise bees, thei^eby proving a distant cousinship with the 

 Alcyonic Iferojjs ; that it devours "mice and such small deer" we know. 

 Sometimes grave charges are preferred against our omniA'orous friend, as may 

 be gathered from the report of the Auckland Acclimatization Society for 

 1868-69: — ^"The Curator states that the A'^?^(7/^sA.e•r has proved very trouble- 

 some in destroying birds, having killed a Californian quail and attacked 

 another bird, which, however, made its escape." In Otago they have been 

 accused of purloining the speckled trout ; in Christchurch Gardens, the shallow 

 artificial streams, where the newly-hatched trout are nursed, receive the 

 protection of wire netting, thus the young fish are kept safe, both from the 

 fishing spear of this bird and the enterprising beak of the large shag. The 

 Curator found by examination that out of about a dozen Kingfishers that had 

 been destroyed, not one contained remains of small birds. 



On the whole, there is no doubt that it is far better policy for the settler 

 to protect this iiseful bird, as an insect destroyer, than to persecute it for an 

 occasional attack on small birds or young fish ; with anything like good 

 management, loss to any extent. from this cause might be avoided. 



When its prey is captured, it is very rarely eaten on the ground ; the 

 shortness of the tarsi (only about 6 lines in length), and the comparatively 

 feeble feet are not adapted for locomotion, either by walking or climbing. 

 Its keen eyesight is remarkable ; amongst grass it can detect an insect, 



