CONCERNING SMALL FRY. 79 
hour, you are entranced at the beauty of the 
fluttering, quivering thing as the sun shines upon 
its green and gold vibrations in mid-air. You 
gain some estimation, too, of the amount of 
immature fish a pair of kingfishers and their 
young must destroy in a single season. Later in 
summer you may see the young brood, with 
open, quivering wings, and constant calling, as 
the parent birds fly to and fro. Their plumage is 
little less brilliant than that of the adult. The 
hole in which the young are reared is never made 
by the parent birds, but always by some small 
burrowing rodent, or occasionally by the little 
sand-martin. The food of the kingfisher is almost 
entirely fish—minnows and sticklebacks forming 
the principal part. Water-beetles, leeches, larve, 
and small trout, as well as the young of coarse 
fish, are, however, all partaken of at times; and 
during the rigour of winter, the kingfishers 
betake themselves to the estuaries of tidal 
rivers, where their food of molluscs and shore- 
haunting creatures is daily replenished. Old 
naturalists aver that the bird brings up its prey in 
its feet ; but this is never so, as all food is taken 
in the beak. 
A near view of minnows feeding affords a 
charming sight. They rummage among the 
aquatic plants, seize the tiniest morsels of animal 
