30 



Birds & Nature Magazine 



stubs, where they threw their heads back 

 and wriggled their minnows down their 

 throats with a haste to choke them all. 

 That done, the}^ began to dance about on 

 their stubs, clattering and chuckling im- 

 moderately. 



It was all blind to me at first, till the 

 game was repeated two or three times, 

 alwa^^s starting at the same instant with a 

 plunge into the riffles and a rush back to 

 goal. Then their object was as clear as 

 the stream below them. With plenty to 

 eat and never a worry in the world, they 

 were playing a game to see which could 

 first get back to his perch and swallow his 



fish. Sometimes one or two of them failed 

 to get a fish and glided back dejectedly; 

 sometimes all three were so close together 

 that it took a deal of jabber to straighten 

 the matter out and they always ended in 

 the same way, by beginning all over again. 

 I once saw^ two broods that had gathered 

 together for one of the rare moments when 

 the kingfisher is a sociable creature. They 

 were jabbering like a flock of blackbirds 

 between their plunges, forgetting for the 

 moment that they were lonely outcasts in 

 the rare fun of playing their unnamed 

 game. — Country Life in America. 



A Solitary Fellow, With Few Pleasures and Fewer Companions to Share Them With 



