Morning journal and courier., 1888-10-09
THE ANGLERS FRIEND.
Haunts and Habits of she Kingash.


 The Poetry of Nature Revealed.
 Of all our British birds none is so beautia ful or so secluded in its habits as the king
 fisher though it used to be, if 1t is not now, an inhabitant of the banks of the CherwelI in the midst of Oxford, says an English
 writer. It's presence is peculiarly in keeping
 with the rapid, rocky trout streams which it
 loves to haunt. Nowhere common through-
 out the country, it is comparatively so in the
 lake district It breeds along the banks of
 the Caldew, Petteril and Eden, and also
 affects those of the Kent, Sprint and Mint.
 It's low, arrow-like flight, as it darts, like stream of azure, green and gold, is familiar
 to every angler. He hears 1t far down stream; it comes under the old ivied bridge, passes like Hash, and is gone to the messy, dripping waterfall, to the sand bank, or up the limeston paved runner to the "Scroggs."
 Although glowing with metallic lustres and
 beautiful in its adaptations and every move
 ment, the kingfsher builds but careless
 nest-a loose structure of small fish bones and dry soil These su ubstances are the hard, indigestible parts which 1t has, in common with the birds of prey, the power of eject ing. The hole in which the nest is placed
 is usually about three feet from the face of
 the bank and slopes upward. The five or
 six eggs deposited in it are absolutely beau~
 tiful. They are purely white, and before
 being blown are suffused with a beautiful pinkness from the yolk. Of the many so- called nests we have examined, none were compact; and it would seem that the fish bones and soil deposited in the holes were rather injections than substances actually
 taken there. The pretty myths indulged in by the poets concerning this bird have given it the name of halycon. Another attribute of the kingfsher was it's power to quell storms, which idea Ohauoer introduces. Then there is second power possessed by the dead bird, when suspended by a oi1 cir of fs haRR n point of the compass from which the wind may blow.
 But let us look at the beautiful bird in its haunts. We follow the course of the hazel and willow-fringed stream for over a mile of it's pebbly reaches. There 6 pair of sand- pipers start with tremulous wings and skirt the sand .margined banks. Then a dipper fits to the green moss covered stone and displays it's white breast in the sunlight. The loose soil slips from beneath our feet, and we clutch spray only to alarm wren that has her dome-shaped nest against the trunk of neighDoring elm. There below the water holes grow, the sweet sacchArine aquatic plants, and the water-hen run and | hide under the friendly roots of the over | hanging thorn. The May-fy is upon the stream, and the silvsry, fresh-run fish seem | all animation, even the great black trout in \ the "willow dubn oondsseends to take fat blue bottle that Is spinning round and round ! on the pool. Dragon-flies dart hither and | thither, the bronze fly and the humble-bse | are upon the wing, and the carpet of moss | and flowers is alive with innumerable small l insects all busily engaged in fertillzing their | flower friends, and at the same time revelline | in minute drops of honey, and gilded with | golden pollen. The lime trees @ "mur- l murous haunt of summer wings," and you can feel the breath of life on your cheek. From the gnarlsd root on which you have l just sat down you may view the life around ! You have selected well your spot, and are soon rewarded. There is an oYer-hang1ng stunted, leafiess bough over there, and upon l it has just alighted a kingfshsr. At first his form is motionless; soon it assumes more animation, and anon is all eye and ear Then it darts, hangs for moment in the alI like kestrel, and returns to the perch l Again ik darts, with unerring aim, and secur es something, This is tossed, beaten and
 broken with a formidable beak, and ther I swallowed head foremost. The process If
 again and again repeated, and you find tha the prey is a small fish. From watching | an hour, you are entraneed at the beauty
 of the futtering quivering thing as the SUI
 shines upon it's green and gold vibration
 in mid-air. You gain some estimation, too | of the vast amount of immature fish whicf | pair of kinghshers and their young mus | de stroy in single season. Later In sum
 mer you may see the young broed Wltl l open quivering wings and constant eallln l as the parent birds fly to and fro. Thei l plumage is little less brilliant than that 0 the adult. The hole in which the young ar reared is never made by the parent birds , but always by some small burrowing rc dent, or occasionally by the little sand maj l tin.
 The food of this species is almost entirel
 fsh-minnows and sticklebacks forming th
 principal part. Water beetles, leeches, lal
 vee and small trout, as well as the young ( coarse fish, are, however, all partaken of {
 times, and during the rigor and frosts of vii
 | ter the king6shers betake themselues to u - estuaries of tidal rivers, where their food r noIluses and shore-haunting creatures v daily replendished. Old natuIalists av' that the bird brings up it's prey in it's feet, bs this is never so, as all food is taken with tt 6 beak.