SOME CANADIAN FEATHERED ERIENDS. 49 
when, uttering a low sort of disappointed hiss, and dropping the 
mouse, it Hew off into tlie bush. 1 picked up tlie mouse — quite 
a large one, and evidently only lately dead. 1 laid the mouse 
down close to the spot where 1 had seen the little bird, and went 
away. I revisited the place several times afterwards, hoping to 
see my little friend again, but there was the mouse, just as I had 
left it, and I never saw that owl again. It was frightened away, 
apparently, from that part for good, or else it would not deign 
to touch anything tainted by human fingers. Another time, in 
quite a different part of the island — in fact, more than eleven 
miles away — 1 was driving home with my cousin late at night ; 
we were going up a hill, and there on the right of us was a low 
rotten tree, with only one solitary naked branch sticking out 
towards the road, and on it, perched side by side, nestling against 
each other, winking and blinking in a most ludicrously solemn 
way, were two little owls, taking no notice of us at all. 
Another bird, called there the night-hawk — which is a kind 
of nightjar [Caprimnlgus), commonly called a goat-sucker — is very 
common in British Columbia. Towards evening, about sunset, 
great numbers of these birds may be seen flying hither and 
thither overhead, wheeling about and uttering their rather harsh 
note — which is not at all unpleasant — “ whe-eep.” They live on 
flies and other insects, do not suck goats, and are not hawks at 
all in any sense of the word. Let us watch one particular bird 
in its interesting flight. Every now and then it makes a curious 
noise like a kind of bur-r-r ! which is caused by its wings when 
it swoops downwards after some insect. The old birds seem to 
hunt in couples, and generally keep the young birds of the first 
year with them, so that one often sees quite a family party of 
nightjars. The night-hawk seems to be quite a night bird. I 
have seen it out as late as twelve, midnight, and very likely it is 
about earlier still, in the morning. The flight of this bird is very 
soft and gliding, with the feathers in the tail spread out fanwise, 
so that the white spots underneath are clearly seen. 
Among birds which live near rivers or on the sea coast is the 
belted kingfisher [Ceryle alcyon), so called because round its breast 
it wears a broad band of a rufous slaty colour, which is one of 
its most distinguishing features. It is crested and has a white 
throat; the upper parts are slaty blue, the wings spotted and 
barred, wdth rather a long tail. These birds seem only to be 
seen in couples, each pair keeping to one particular part of the 
water. Its peculiar note is very much like a policeman’s rattle. 
The belted kingfisher lives almost entirely on fish, swooping 
down almost into the water in its eagerness to secure a dainty 
morsel of food. The bird seems very easily deceived ; if you 
throw a small stick or stone into the air, down it swoops, think- 
ing, as I suppose, that it must be a fish — very much out of 
water. 
The belted kingfisher does not seem to be at all timid, circling 
round one’s head, and uttering its harsh note, as if we were 
