142 American Birds 



person will argue with another, then one darted at the 

 other, and away they went dodging and turning as far 

 as I could see. I think it was a fight as to the ownership 

 of the property along the river, for the riparian rights 

 seemed to belong to this one bird and all others were ex- 

 cluded. 



It is always exciting to me to watch these birds catch 

 fish. I enjoy it as much as pulling them out myself. 

 I was sitting on the bank one day when my old king 

 came rattling down the river in swift, straight flight, 

 and swerving up, caught himself in mid-air and came to 

 a stop about fifteen feet above the water. What an eye 

 he must have to see a fish under the surface when going 

 at such a pace ! He fluttered for a moment as a sparrow 

 hawk does above his prey, and dropped arrowlike, com- 

 pletely disappearing beneath the surface. The next instant 

 he was in the air again with a crawfish. He wasn't wet 

 a bit, for his clothes were water-tight; the water ran 

 off his satiny plumage as if his coat were thoroughly 

 oiled. 



While the kingfisher catches many minnows he does 

 not live on these alone. He often lives on different kinds 

 of insects and shell-fish. Along some streams he lives 

 mostly on frogs, lizards, and beetles. In the southern 

 states, where the streams are few and run dry in summer, 

 this bird takes to a fare of grasshoppers and mice. Think 

 of a kingfisher catching mice ! A kingfisher adapts him- 

 self to circumstances just as a flicker will dig a home in 

 a clay bank, a telegraph pole, or a church steeple when the 

 trees are all cut down. 



Where I live, the food of the kingfisher consists largely 



