. Birds through an opera-glass . bled note which soconstantly escapes the bird during flight. XVI. BELTED KINGFISHER. The robin lives on neighborly terms in ourdooryard, the swift secretes himself in our chim-neys, the humming-bird hovers in our gardens,the barn swallow circles around our barns, thecatbird talks to himself in our orchards, the oriolehangs his hammock from our elms, the bobo-link holds gay possession of our fields till themower comes to dispute his claim, and the yellowhammer appoints himself inspector general of ourant-hiUs, fence-posts, and tree trunks ; but thekino^fisher ca
. Birds through an opera-glass . bled note which soconstantly escapes the bird during flight. XVI. BELTED KINGFISHER. The robin lives on neighborly terms in ourdooryard, the swift secretes himself in our chim-neys, the humming-bird hovers in our gardens,the barn swallow circles around our barns, thecatbird talks to himself in our orchards, the oriolehangs his hammock from our elms, the bobo-link holds gay possession of our fields till themower comes to dispute his claim, and the yellowhammer appoints himself inspector general of ourant-hiUs, fence-posts, and tree trunks ; but thekino^fisher cares nothino- for us or our goes off by himself into the heart of the wil-derness, not to crouch among the brown leaves onthe ground like the partridge, but to fly high and 58 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. far over river and lake, calling loudly to theechoes as he goes. He is the most marked of the trillers, having aloud, rapid call that Wilson compares to a watch-mans rattle, and that, as Mr. Burroughs ingen- €^. iously suggests, reminds you of an alarm clock. Heusually gives it when on the wing, and if on hear-ing him you look up in time, you will see a large,ungainly slate-blue bird, with an odd flight — hisshort tail making liun out of proportion so that hiswings seem too far back. As he flies over, younote his big, heavily-crested head, his dark collar, BELTED KINGFISHER. 59 and his glistening wliite throat. If he lights ona dead stub by the water, and you can see thecompact, oily plumage that is adapted for coldplunges, you will think him handsome in spite ofhis topheaviness. He sits like the catbird, andwatches the fish come toward the surface. Butbefore they know what has happened they arewrioo-lino in his bill. After catchino^ a fish hequickly carries it back to liis perch, to be devouredat his leisure. The kingfisher shows us a new style of nest,though it might seem that there had been varietyenough before. There was the adobe house of the robin, the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidbirdsthr, booksubjectbirds
