THE KINGFISHER i57 



for the simple reason that otherwise the projecting fins 

 might very easily stick in the bird's throat. 



The Kingfisher is a shy bird, and wary to a degree ; 

 but at times it would seem as if he had an unaccountable 

 "fit of friendliness " for man — at all events, moments when 

 his natural shyness deserted him. 



Here, for example, is what happened to one bird-lover. 

 Mr. J. E. Whiting relates, in a magazine article, how he 

 was sitting quietly on the banks of a brook, watching the 

 Birds and the butterflies. It was a glorious summer's day, 

 and he had been out insect-hunting. Stopping to rest, he 

 had rigged up a rod and line, using a bent pin and the 

 long stem of his butterfly-net, and, half in earnest, started 

 fishing. 



Presently " a very fine Kingfisher came flying up stream 

 towards where I was sitting. I fully expected that, on 

 seeing me, it would dart on one side, and so return to the 

 stream higher up. But it came straight on, and, to my 

 surprise and pleasure, actually alighted on the rod which I 

 was holding over the stream. I scarcely breathed for fear 

 the slightest motion on my part should frighten it away. 

 It looked at me in a friendly sort of way, as much as to 

 say, ' I am not at all frightened, we understand each 

 other ' ; and at once began to clean and plume its beautiful 

 feathers deliberately with its long bill." 



The bird stayed as long as it wished to, and then 

 having finished its toilet, changed its perch for another 

 only a little way off. Finally, it dived for a fish, killed 

 and swallowed it, and flew away round a bend in the 

 brook. 



The nest of the Kingflsher hardly deserves the name. 

 It usually consists of a tunnel in the bank of a stream, the 

 opening being no larger than is needful to allow the parent 



