Birds & Nature Magazine 



29 



Two Broods Ready for Their First Kindergarten Lesson 



mother, like an irate housekeeper flourish- 

 ing her broom at every corner of an un- 

 swept room, sounded her rattle loudly and 

 dropped on the sleepy frog's head, sending 

 him sputtering and scrambling away into 

 the mud, as if Hawahak the hawk were 

 after him. Then with another look all 

 around to see that the stream was clear, 

 and with a warning rattle to any wood- 

 folk that she might have overlooked, she 

 darted into her nest, wiggling her tail like 

 a satisfied duck as she disappeared. 



After a moment a wild-eyed young king- 

 fisher put his head out of the hole for his 

 first look at the big world. A push from 

 behind cut short his contemplation, and 

 without any fuss he sailed down to a dead 

 branch on the other side of the stream. 

 Another and another followed in the same 

 way, as if each one had been told just what 

 to do and where to go, till the whole family 

 were sitting a-row, with the rippling stream 

 below them and the deep blue heavens 

 and the rustling world of woods above. 



That was their first lesson, and their re- 

 ward was near. The male bird had been 

 fishing since daylight; now he began to 

 bring minnows from an eddy, where he had 

 stored them, and to feed the hungry family 

 and assure them, in his own way, that this 

 big world, so different from the hole in 

 the bank, was a good place to live in, and 

 furnished no end of good things to eat. 



The next lesson was more interesting, the 

 lesson of catching fish. The school was 

 a quiet, shallow pool with a muddy bottom 

 against which the fish showed clearly, and 

 with a convenient stub leaning over it from 

 which to swoop. The old birds had caught 

 a score of minnows, killed them, and 

 dropped them here and there under the 

 stub. Then they brought the young birds, 

 showed them their game, and told them by 

 repeated examples to dive and get it. The 

 little fellows were hungry and took to the 

 sport keenly; but one was timid, and only 

 after the mother had twice dived and 

 brought up a fish — which she showed to the 

 timid one and then dropped back in a most 

 tantalizing way — did he muster up resolu- 

 tion to take the plunge. 



When I saw the family again, weeks aft- 

 erward, their lessons were well learned ; 

 they needed no wounded or captive fish to 

 satisfy their hunger. They were full of 

 the joy of living, and showed me one day, 

 a curious game — the only play that I have 

 ever seen among the kingfishers. 



There were three of them, when I first 

 found them, perched on projecting stubs 

 over the dancing riffles, which swarmed 

 with chub and ''minnies" and samlets and 

 lively young red-fins. Suddenly, as if at 

 the command go, they all dropped bill first 

 into the river. In a moment they were out 

 again and rushed back to their respective 



