The Kingfisher

The Kingfisher.

Koskomenos, the kingfisher, still burrows in the earth like this reptile ancestors. Therefore the other birds call him outcast and will have nothing to do with him. But he cares little for that, being a clattering, rattle headed, self satisfied fellow, who seems to do nothing all day long but fish and eat. As you follow him, however, you note with amazement that he does somethings marvelously well-better, indeed, than any other of the wood folk. To locate a fish accurately in still water is difficult enough when one thinks of light refraction, but when the fish is moving and the sun glares down into the poll and the wind wrinkles its face into a thousand flashing, changing furrows and ridges, then the bird that can point a bill straight to his fish and hit him fair just behind the gills must have more in his head than the usual chattering gossip that one hears from him on the trout streams. -Country Life In America.