139 
ig2i.] On the Economic Status of the Kingfisher'. 
Tringa ochropus L. 
A flock of five birds were seen on 2 July near Candia, out 
of which a pair were shot. They were in complete breeding 
plumage, were very fat, and showed no signs of having bred. 
Earns argentatus cacliinnans was common off the coast 
near Candia, and had bred in a large colony on Paximadi 
Island ; a young bird was found in the nest, but all the rest 
were an the wing. 
Pujfinus pujfinus yelkouan and Procellaria pelagica were 
common at sea off eastern Crete throughout June, but I 
could not locate any breeding quarters. 
VII.— On the Economic Status of the Kingfisher , Alcedo 
ispida Linn . By Walter E. Collinge, D.Sc., P.L.S., 
M.B.O.U. 
(Text-figure 2.) 
I. Introduction. 
The brilliant external colouring of the Kingfisher ( Alcedo 
ispida Linn.) makes it one of the most beautiful birds we have 
in this country, in consequence of which Yarrell (10) states, 
it is “ so much sought after by the idle and thoughtless that 
its numbers, probably never very great in any part of the 
country, have of late years very sensibly decreased . . . . 
but the most constant persecution the species undergoes 
arises rather from the delight .... so many people take in 
possessing its stuffed skin ; . . . . and to this end more 
Kingfishers are probably shot or netted for English bird- 
stuffers than any other species.^ Although this statement 
was made nearly fifty years ago, it is equally true to-day. 
So recently as 1891 Mr. A. H. Cocks ( 2 ) reported that a 
local bird-stuffer had nearly a hundred Kingfishers sent to 
him to set up that year. 
Further, as a frequenter of streams, brooks, and rivers, 
this bird has generally been regarded as injurious to fish- 
culture, and consequently has been ruthlessly shot. 
