:;::;:;:3x TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO j*:-"-" 



Ills mate, who was easily distinguished from him. The 

 hues of his pkimage make liim a gem in the sunhght ; 

 a few inches of ghstening, iridescent green, a white 

 throat and collar, and a broad band of bright chestnut 

 across his breast. The female lacks this ruddy tint, but 

 in its place has two bars of beautiful green sjjots. The 

 kingfisher's w'ings are his chief glory, green like his 

 back, and when they are spread in flight, a hundred 

 round spots of white flash out, as if his last dive had 

 strewn his wings with a myriad flecks of foam. His 

 habits differ considerably from those of our familiar 

 Belted Kingfisher, as when on the lookout for fish, 

 instead of selecting an overhanging branch, he usually 

 prefers a boulder in mid-stream, or a flat sand-bar. In 

 the eddies behind such places small fishes collected in 

 numbers, and the little martin pescador, as the Mexi- 

 cans call him, seldom went hungry. 



A j^aii" alighted one day on a sand-bar among the 

 sandjnpers, waddled awkwardly to the edge, and peered 

 intently into the water, their absurd tails perpetually 

 jerking up and down. Suddenly, perceiving the object 

 of his desire, one of them described a half-circle in the 

 air and dropped with unerring aim upon a fish or polly- 

 wog. The sandpipers ceased their probing for a mo- 

 ment to consider the strange manoeuvres of this little 

 companion of theirs. As I shall mention later, when 

 water was scarce this sturdy little fellow was in no wise 

 discomfited. 



-v^- 144 -^ 



