THE KINGFISHER. 33 
pair, or a third specimen, skimming over the ornamental water near West Dulwich 
station, on the Chatham and Dover line. In North Kent I have only seen the 
bird once or twice in very secluded spots; but in some parts of the Thames it is 
not particularly rare, and many Ornithologists will probably remember the pride 
with which the late W. C. Hewitson used to point to a small hole bored in a 
tiny artificial islet at the bottom of his grounds at Walton-on-Thames, as having 
on several occasions been occupied by a pair of this species. The egg which Mr. 
Frohawk has represented (fig. 267) is one from his own collection. 
Owing to its brilliant colouring the Kingfisher is very conspicuous on the 
wing, and can be seen for a considerable distance; unhappily its great beauty is 
a source of danger to the unfortunate bird, which is shot and netted in great 
numbers every year, many specimens being stuffed,* and set up in glass cases as 
room ornaments; or utilized as head adornments by the modern female barbarian ; 
or lastly in the manufacture of artificial flies for fishermen. No wonder that the 
bird has become somewhat shy. 
It is rather interesting to watch a Kingfisher as he sits on his chosen perch 
over the water intent upon his finny prey, his head sometimes turned a little 
sideways, the body motionless; suddenly with a loud smack he dives into the 
water, and in a second has emerged with a fish in his bill with which he 
returns to his perch. At first the fish is held across the middle, and 
sometimes the bird will hold it thus for a minute or more, then he shifts it so 
that it is held a little nearer the tail, and bangs it right and left against the 
perch, exactly as the South American Sulphur Tyrant does a newt, or as a Red- 
start treats a caterpillar; having thus killed it, the Kingfisher usually gives it a 
toss into the air and swallows it head foremost. Until I had seen this for myself 
I always supposed that this bird entered the water noiselessly, whereas the sound 
reminded me of nothing more distinctly than that produced by a bad diver at 
public baths when he comes flat on the surface—a very noisy splash indeed.t+ 
Although very fond of small fish, these by no means constitute the sole food. 
of the Kingfisher, for it is very fond of tadpoles and water-beetles: moreover, 
many of the small fry which are eaten are quite useless for human consumption, 
so that the bird has been treated with undeserved severity by pisciculturists, many 
of whom lose no opportunity of shooting it. 
“The Kingfisher,” says Lord Lilford, ‘is said to be a very early breeder, and 
* A. H. Cocks (‘Zoologist,’ 1891, p. 154) mentions that a local bird-stuffer had had nearly a hundred sent 
to him to set up that year. 
+ The bird enters the water obliquely, and possibly may not always make so much noise: the splash may 
be due to the wing striking the water before quite closing; but the action is too sudden to enable one to see 
the exact cause of it. 
