Natural History.

Otago Witness, Issue 1456, 11 October 1879, Page 20

Natural History.

By Uncle Dayit>,

(Specially written for the Otago Witness.}

NOTES FOR THE YOUiSfG.

Now, my young friends, I want you to lay aßide your playthings for half an hour, and take a walk with me into the fields or foreßt as the case may be. And while vriih me, 1 wish you to keep your eyes and ears open ; for it is by making a good übq of these organs that we become intelligent men and "women.

Now that we have fairly start* d out, I must tell you why I have asked you to come with me, and why you are to keep your eye» and ears open. In the first place, I -want you to become acquainted with the names and habits of a few of the animals -which we meet with in our walks, and also to tell yon some interesting stories of animals which are to found in other lands. Secondly, to keep your eyes open that no animal may escape our notice ; and -your earn, that you may hear all that I have to tell you about thorn.

What bird is that which I see sifcsing upon a twig over that clear pool of water, like the gay flower of some water plant"? JLet us approach cautiously that we may get a better view of it. The crown of the head, cheeks.

and wing coverfcs, are of deep gretn, each feather being margined with a lighter metallic hue. The rest of the npperanrface is of a brilliant azure, the ear coverts infuß^ (a brownish red), the throat and back of the neck white, the under surface of a fine rufus. The length of the bird appears to be about seven inches. Oh ! I think 1 hear some of you exclaim ; "Oh ! I know what bird it is — the kiugrianer ! " You are ri^nt, it is the common kingfisher, the Alcedo ispida of naturalists.

This is rhe bird of which so many wonderful stories have been told, from the notion that it is the Halcyon of the ancients. It is said that she laid her eggs in a xtßßt on the rocks, near the sea in calm weailaer. We are toid that if we suspend a kingfisher from the ceiling of a room by a fins cord, that its. bill would always be turned to the wind, and that, too, with all the doors and win--dows cosed. A certain writer alluding to this practice says :— "But now, how stands the wind ? Into what corner peers my Hal«cjon'sbill? Ha! to the east? yea?' Her nest was called the Halcyoneuni, and was supposed to be endowed with medical properties ; hence the superstitious regard the kingfisher has excited in later times. The kingfishers iahabi* holes or borrows on the bauks of streams, spending much tune in the air near the water, or perched or the neighbouring trees. They live partly by fishing,. but they catch also dragon-flies and other water insects. Like the owhi, they swallow all their pi ey entire, and cast up is indigestible. As they fish entirely by sight, and their prey is often vary BmaL'., they require to see very clearly. Their fishing movementu can only be carrisd on. under very favourable circumstances -, the water must be clear, and the surface Bnaootrh. That is why they are not found in branching streams, or where the wind curls, the rain dimpleß, or the mud darkens the w*ter. " On the days when evaporation lias ce%sed, and there is an impending siorm — when the atmosphere is most transparent, and the stream moat glossy — these asre the fittest days of all for the kingfisher's movements, and for the employment of that tail which is in fact a fiahing sptarin the waters which it frequents." Their nests, whether made for them or not, are formed in banks, in old trees, broadleaf especially. The nest usually slopes downward, for this reason, that should it ever be aacidently filled with water, it may soon become dry again. There are six or seven eggs, nearly as large as the Californian quail's, but the colour is a watery white. The young rems,sn a long time in the nest, but in dry seasoos they are able to fish for themselves.

When winter drives their prey into. deep and sheltered bottoms, they leave the shallow inland streams and pass near Vac coast, frequenting the mouths of rivers* The kingfisher is to be found all ever the -world, and his appearance is so similar ia all quarters that the description of the one wiiieh we have been watching will suffice for the whole species.

{To he continued in our jjcsrz}

_^ _ _ —X^ " Then, doctor, mine is a hopuieaß case— I am indeed attacked by one of fchose awful maladies which science does not treat— which you do not prescribe for." " No* *o ; not so bad as that— we treat such complaints — we prescribe for them." "But do $Lo prescriptions do any good." "Not tlia least." — Paris paper.

A wrong done us may be forgiven, but how we may forgive those whom we have injured is a grave problem, — Sunday Ai&sraoon.