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PICTURES OF BIRD LIFE. 
bird. A stickleback an inch and a quarter long was in its mouth, and on being 
liberated and put into the water, it swam away seemingly uninjured. The same 
friend has seen this bird dive through ice in winter. As a rule, however, it is 
not very tolerant of frost, and has been found on its perch frozen to death. 
A curious anecdote is given in the Zoologist respecting the death of a King¬ 
fisher. In attempting to swallow one of its captures, a specimen of the “ miller’s 
thumb,” one of the projecting spines on one side of its gill, being extended, caught 
under the tongue of its captor. The Kingfisher, being unable to dislodge it, fell a 
victim to its rapacity. Mr. Jefferies, with his close habits of observation, gives us 
one or two more traits of this bird: — “Though so swift, the Kingfisher is com¬ 
paratively easy to, shoot, because he flies as straight as an arrow; and if you can 
get clear of bushes or willow-pollards, he may be dropped without trouble. When 
disturbed the Kingfisher almost invariably flies off in one favourite direction ; and 
this habit has often proved fatal to him, because the sportsman knows exactly 
which way to look, and carries his gun prepared. Wherever the Kingfisher’s haunt 
may be, he will be found upon observation to leave it nearly always in the same 
direction day after day. He is, indeed, a bird with fixed habits, though apparently 
wandering aimlessly along the streams. Near mill-ponds is a favourite place with 
these birds. If he is only fishing for his own eating, he does not carry his prey 
farther than a clear place on the bank. A terrace made by the runs of the water- 
rat is a common table for him, or the path leading to the water-hatch where it is 
worn smooth and bare by footsteps. But he prefers to devour his fish either close 
to the water, or in a somewhat open place, and not too near bushes, because while 
thus on the ground he is not safe. While feeding his young he will carry a fish 
apparently as long as himself a considerable distance.” * 
A relative of our bird, whose home is North America, the Belted Kingfisher 
(Ceryle alcyon ), is related to have been twice seen in Ireland, one in October, and 
the other in November, 1845. These birds may have been driven across the 
Atlantic by stress of weather, or, which is more likely, escaped from some aviary. 
The mythology and poetry of Kingfishers are closely connected. As the bird is 
songless, it has not attracted the attention of poets for its own sake. The old 
Greek myth was that Halcyone was a daughter of the wind god, CEolus; she 
married Ceyx, who was unfortunately drowned. When Halcyone found his dead 
body washed on the sea-shore, she threw herself into the waves, and was, together 
with her husband, changed into the birds, called Halcyons or Kingfishers. While 
* “ Wild Life in a Southern County.’' 
