118 



6 



bright blue of its plumage glitters in the sunshine. It is a solitary and unsociable bird, looking 

 with suspicion on any other bird that approaches its favourite haunt ; and if the intruder is not 

 too strong it will drive it away, uttering loud cries. Where a pair have taken up their abode 

 they will rarely brook the presence of others of their own species, but attack any intruder with 

 the greatest fury, and usually succeed in driving him away. When fighting or pursuing each 

 other they appear to forget all caution, and sometimes will dash close to any one who may be 

 strolling alongside the stream ; but when they are aware of the proximity of danger they forget 

 their quarrel in a very laudable desire to seek safety in a most precipitate flight. Naumann 

 remarks the extreme pugnacity and unsociable habits of the present species, and says he has 

 seen them pursuing each other, dashing along close to the surface of the water like an arrow, 

 following every turn of the stream, uttering loud cries. So fierce is the animosity displayed by 

 these birds, that when excited in combat they fly heedless of obstacles, and thus occasionally 

 meet their death in their headlong career ; not long ago, indeed, an instance was recorded in 

 ' The Field,' by Mr. E. Ward, of two Kingfishers which flew with such violence against a 

 window, that both pursuer and pursued met their death on the spot. Mr. Alfred Denison 

 possesses these identical specimens, which were stuffed to commemorate the occurrence. 



The call-note or cry of the Kingfisher is a clear, loud, and shrill note, resembling the 

 syllable tiit, and not unlike the call of the common Sandpiper, though higher-pitched and more 

 shrill. It utters this cry nearly always when on the wing, and several times in succession, so 

 that it sounds like the syllables tit, tit, tit. When undisturbed the bird is very silent, only now 

 and then uttering its shrill cry when flying from one perch to the other, during which it seldom 

 traverses a greater distance than three or four hundred paces, the halting-places being usually 

 much closer together than that. It feeds chiefly on small fish of various kinds, sometimes on 

 water-insects, and, in case of need, Naumann adds, also on leeches. Fishes from about one inch 

 long to nearly three inches in length are usually captured ; and it is by no means particular as to 

 the species, though it prefers a slender to a stout and short fish. Minnows, small gudgeon, 

 trout, dace, and chub are the species it appears most frequently to capture ; but when it frequents 

 the sea-shore it captures and devours shrimps ; and Mr. Gatcombe informs me that one brought 

 to him at Plymouth had the stomach crammed with small crabs. It is said to be destructive to 

 salmon fry, and whether guilty or not it is relentlessly pursued and destroyed by the preservers 

 of salmon. The greatest enemy the present species has, however, is the plume-dealer. Owing 

 to the now prevalent fashion of wearing gaudily coloured birds' feathers in their hats, ladies of 

 the present day have much to answer for as regards the great diminution in the numbers of the 

 Kingfisher ; for so eagerly have they been sought after to be used for plumes, that in many parts 

 of Great Britain they are all but exterminated. 



The Kingfisher captures its prey by watching for it, seated on a stone or branch overhanging 

 the water, and darting on the passing fish, dropping into the water like a stone, and rarely 

 missing its mark. Sometimes it may also be seen hovering over the surface of the water, 

 keeping itself in the air by a quick fluttering of the wings, something like a Kestrel hovering 

 over a field ; and so soon as it catches sight of a fish it drops on it at once. In places where a 

 suitable perch over the water is not readily found, it may often be observed hovering thus ; and 

 in the bright sunshine its richly coloured plumage makes it very conspicuous. Sometimes it 



