The belted kingfisher comes close to the house, where I can watch him
fishing as I sit at the window. The river is five miles across here,
and for several yards from the shore it is quite shallow, so that a
wharf two hundred and fifty feet long was necessary to make it easy to
launch our small rowboats. A railing extends along the side of the
wharf, and upon this railing the kingfisher perches, watching for his
prey.

[Illustration: THE BELTED KINGFISHER.]

He understands fishing much better than most boys, for he seldom misses
his game. He takes his position on the railing, and fixes his eyes upon
the finny tribes below, and when a fish that suits him comes within his
range, he dives into the water and brings it up with his stout beak,
and then beats it upon the railing to make it limp and tender before
swallowing.

It is not so very surprising that he is such an expert fisher, for
during the winter it is his only occupation; he has no family to look
after now, and he is so very selfish and quarrelsome that he will not
allow any of his brothers to fish near him. He considers the whole
length of the wharf his fishing-post, and his brothers must not
trespass upon his grounds; if they do, he chases them away with a
rattling, clanging noise, enough to frighten any fisher not stronger
than himself.

In the spring he takes a partner in his business, for now it is time to
raise a family, and he knows he can never do this alone. He is very
good and kind to this partner, and helps her dig a hole in a clayey
bank for the nest, and then takes his turn in sitting upon the eggs.
After the eggs are hatched, they both catch fish to feed the young
until they are old enough to feed themselves.

The American flamingo, with his gorgeous scarlet feathers, is a superb
fellow. He is very shy, and peculiarly afraid of man. On account of its
fine apparel, it has been more closely pursued than almost any other
bird. It does not go north like some of the herons, but Audubon says it
has occasionally been seen in South Carolina. Its constant home,
however, is in the southern part of Florida and along the Gulf coast.

Like the herons, of which I told you in ST. NICHOLAS for May, 1877, the
flamingoes are sociable, and live in flocks. They have webbed feet,
which give them an advantage over the herons in enabling them to swim
as well as to wade. I have never been able to get near enough to these
birds to gain any personal knowledge of the