58 B Y- WA YS AND BIRD-NO TES. 



whose prey is taken from clear, moving water — 

 are peculiarly marked underneath. On his 

 breast, next to his white necklace, is a band of 

 pale blue, touched here and there with light- 

 brown, and below this to his tail he is white. 

 Now, a fish looking up through the water has 

 the kingfisher between him and the sky. 

 Those sky-blue and silver-white feathers cor- 

 respond exactly with the water-light and sky- 

 light as they are broken up and blended to- 

 gether by the tiny chopping waves. When the 

 kingfisher makes a harpoon of itself, and, beak 

 downward, darts from its perch above the 

 water to fall upon a fish, it presents two par- 

 allel curved lines, one of which is mainly 

 bright blue, the other mostly pure white ; these 

 seen through moving water blend into a soft 

 mist-gray, perfectly in tone with the prevailing 

 tint of most brook-water. 



In connection with observations on the mo- 

 tions of birds it is well to recall the fact that 

 nearly all the night-birds fly on wings that 

 make no sound. An owl slips through the air 

 with the utter silence of a shadow. This ac- 

 cords with the stillness of the night. It also 

 serves the bird a good turn, for the least noise 

 would startle his prey at a time when all nature 

 is hushed and breathless. I have observed, 

 as has every nature-student, I suppose, that 

 nearly, if not quite all, the night insects are 

 comparatively noiseless in their flight. The 

 giant moth does not hum like a bumble-bee or 

 a humming-bird. The mosquito is the noisiest 

 with his wings of all the night-flyers. But I 

 must not get over the line from birds to in- 

 sects, while on this subject of harmony, for a 

 study of butterflies alone would fill more space 



