The Kingfisheror Halcyon Bird With The Water Watchman


"Please, Jack," begged Phyllis.



"Girls always talk," replied Jack.



"I will not say a word to you--indeed I will not."



"Well, if you spoil my fishing--" began Jack.



"And I'll pick thimbleberries for our lunch," said Phyllis, eagerly.



So it happened that a small girl in a great sunbonnet followed a small

boy with a still larger straw hat and a fishing-
ole and line, out of

the back gate and down the lane.



True to her promise, Phyllis said nothing, but trudged along behind

Jack with wide open, watchful brown eyes.



By and bye the children came to a pond of shining, clear water. How

still everything seemed, how brightly the sun shone!



"Now if you talk you'll scare the fish," said Jack, with an air of

great importance.



"I will not talk," Phyllis whispered back, shutting her lips very

tightly and sitting down beside her brother with a little sigh.



Jack threw his line--Phyllis watched with awe. They sat for a moment

waiting for a "bite."



Then Jack jerked the line up sharply, not so much because he thought he

had caught something, as because he hoped he would catch something.



"I don't believe there are any fish here," he grumbled at last.



But Phyllis's bright eyes had caught sight of something and she forgot

all about the fishing and her resolve not to speak.



"Look!" she cried, pointing to a fallen tree-trunk which hung over the

water.



On a branch sat a bird. He was considerably larger than a robin.







On the top of his head was a tall crest, which reached to the nape of

his neck.



His back and the entire upper part of his body was blue. His wings and

short tail bore spots and bars of white.



The lower part of his body was white and across his breast ran two

bands of blue.



"His bill is longer than his head!" laughed Phyllis. "What a funny big

head and what funny little feet! Who is he, Jackie?"



"A kingfisher!" Jack replied.



"What is he doing?" asked Phyllis.



"Fishing," said Jack, shortly.



In a moment Jack spoke again.



"There must be fish here if Mr. Kingfisher is on the lookout. He is a

famous old fisherman. He could not live without fish to eat. Did you

notice the white spot above each eye?"



Encouraged by the sight of the other fisherman, Jack again cast his

line and waited for a bite.



Phyllis watched the bird. Suddenly it seemed to drop from the branch.

It dived into the water.



There was a great flutter and splash--a struggle. Then the bird in the

blue and white uniform perched again on the old branch.



The children watched eagerly.



In the bird's strong bill was a scaly, glittering fish. It wriggled

and flopped helplessly, but could not escape.



The bird held the fish firmly in its strong grasp, raised his head and

struck the fish three or four sharp knocks against the branch. Then

the fish wriggled no longer.



"He can never swallow that big fellow!" cried Jack, forgetting his own

fishing. "I have seen kingfishers swallow minnows alive and whole, but

that fish is too large for him to manage!"



The bird, however, seemed to think that he could "manage" it. He

started to swallow the fish. When it was half-way down his throat it

stuck.



With much sputtering and gagging the bird brought the fish up again.

But he must have his dinner, and not in the least discouraged, tried

again.



He gagged and writhed. The scales and fins stuck in his throat. Up

came the fish again.



Four--five times he struggled to swallow the fish. Five times he

failed to succeed. Five times the fish-scales glittered again in the

sunlight. Such strange wrigglings and twistings the bird made.



"The poor fellow is having an unhappy time with his lunch," laughed the

children.



At the sixth effort the fish was safely landed in the bird's stomach.



With a flash of blue wings he circled through the air. He gave a noisy

rattling cry as he alighted on a branch nearer to the children.



Again the bird watched the water intently. Again he dived like a

flash. Again he bore a fish to the surface and killed it by striking

it against the tree.



But this time the kingfisher did not swallow the fish. He rose with it

in his bill and flew gracefully away.



The children watched for some time, but the strange blue bird did not

return. Then Jack turned again to his fishing.



"I thought you were to furnish the thimbleberries for lunch," he said.



"So I shall," Phyllis replied, snatching up her basket and starting off

in the direction of some bushes which she could see.



So Jack was left to his fishing and Phyllis went berrying.



Sure enough the bushes proved to be loaded with beautiful ripe berries.

Soon the little fingers were stained quite purple and the little basket

was half filled with berries.



As she started to return to her brother, Phyllis passed along the foot

of a high bank. She was singing softly to herself when she heard the

rattling cry of the kingfisher quite near.



He gracefully swung into sight on wide-spread wings. He bore another

fish in his strong bill.



When he saw Phyllis he stopped short and held himself perfectly still

in the air while he looked at her.



At length, deciding that she was harmless, he circled past the little

girl and entered a small hole on the face of the bank.



"Why!" said Phyllis. "I wonder why he has gone in there. I shall wait

for him to return."



So Phyllis waited until the bird came out. Then she held out her

basket of berries.



"Will you have some of my berries?" she said. "I'm sure that your

throat must be sore from the scratching of those fish-scales. You had

to try so many times before you got it down. Tell me, did this last

fish also stick in your throat?"



The kingfisher "chuckled" deep down in his throat.



"I do not eat berries," he said. "I usually eat fish. I sometimes eat

large insects or shrimps, but I love to fish."



"So does my brother," said Phyllis, politely, glancing at Jack sitting

motionless on a rock in the sunshine.



"Why did you go into that hole to eat?"



The kingfisher chuckled again.



"That is my nest," he said. "My wife is in there. I took the fish to

her. She can fish quite as well as I, but our eggs are just hatching

and she dare not leave them."



"That a bird's nest?" cried Phyllis. "Who made it?"



"Mrs. Kingfisher and I did," was the reply. "We found this fine steep

bank when we came from the south in March.



"I began the nest myself. I held myself still in the air before the

bank just as I did when I first noticed you. Then I drove my beak into

the soft bank with quick plunges. How the clay rattled and rolled and

splashed into the water below!



"It was but a very short time before I had a foothold on the bank.

Mrs. Kingfisher and I worked very quickly. Soon we dug ourselves out

of sight."



"But how do you dig--"



"Oh, just look at my bill, Phyllis. With it I loosen the earth. With

my feet I scratch the dirt out in a perfect shower behind me. Our

tunnel is so narrow that we could not turn around in it."



"How deep is it?" asked the little girl, pushing back her big hat and

peering in.



The kingfisher did not seem to hear her. He just went on with his

story.



"Perhaps a little less than two feet from the outside we made a turn to

the right. After that we were obliged to bring the earth out in our

beaks.



"Two could not work at once. While I worked at the tunnel Mrs.

Kingfisher fished. While she worked, I fished. At last the tunnel was

eight feet long.



"'That is a very safe distance,' said Mrs. Kingfisher to me. 'Let us

dig no more, but make our nest here at the end of the tunnel.'



"We built a wonderful nest," the bird went on, "a fine prickly nest for

our little ones. We did not line it with feathers and moss. We

carefully arranged a pile of fish-bones and scales at the farthest end

of the tunnel. On these bones and scales my wife laid six white eggs.

Already four little baby kingfishers have pecked their way out of the

white shells. The others will be out soon.



"I must be off about my fishing. Mrs. Kingfisher and I will both be

very busy now catching minnows for those blue babies of ours."



With another chuckle and rattle the kingfisher flew away to his fishing

station over the pond.



Phyllis picked up her basket of berries and returned to the spot where

Jack still sat patiently holding his pole.



"Oh, Jack--" Phyllis began.



"Sh-h-h-h!" whispered Jack. "You promised not to talk. You'll scare

the fish away. Girls always talk."



"I'm sorry," said Phyllis. "How many have you now?"



"None--but I've had a nibble several times. I think they'd bite better

if the sun would go under a cloud."



"Let's eat our lunch now," begged Phyllis. "Perhaps there'll be some

clouds by the time we finish."



As they ate Phyllis told her brother about the kingfisher's nest and

babies. When they finished the sky was as blue as ever.



"These are halcyon days," said Jack, looking very wise.



"Wh-a-a-t--?" said Phyllis, wholly puzzled and half frightened at the

new word.



"Well, you see father told me about them the other day when we were

fishing in this same place.



"It seems that long ago when people were not very wise, they believed

all sorts of queer things. They told strange stories about the things

which they did not understand.



"In those days kingfishers were called halcyons. Some said these birds

made nests which floated on the sea.



"As long as these eggs or birdlings were in the nest, the people said,

the sea would remain smooth and the weather fair.



"Ever since then, when we hear any one speak of 'halcyon days,' we know

that they mean pleasant happy days."



"Then," laughed Phyllis, "this has been one of the 'halcyon days' even

though you failed to catch any fish."



Then two tired little people trudged home through the river reeds and

down the lane.



On their way the blue kingfisher flashed by, chuckling harshly deep

down in his throat.



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