side by side on a dead branch, close together, evidently just
out of the nest. And I was fortunate in seeing a kingfisher dart upon
the water, hover for an instant like a hawk-moth over honeysuckle,
and, having caught a small gudgeon, fly away with it in its beak.
They, like the martin, always perch on leafless wood, so that the
leaves shall not impede their flight when pouncing upon a fish, and no
doubt this is the reason they sometimes perch on the top joint of the
rod of a hidden fisherman.

The nuthatch, called here the "mud-dauber," from its habit of
narrowing the hole of a starling's old nest, with mud, for its own use
as a nesting-place, is a more common bird in the Forest than in
Worcestershire. It is a provident bird, firmly wedging hazel nuts in
the autumn into crevices of the Scots-fir, for a winter store, Bewick
mentions that it uses these crevices as vices, to hold the nut
securely, while it cracks it; but he does not recognize the fact that
they have been stored long previously. I have seen a great number of
nuts so stored and quite sound.

Bewick, by the way, who wrote his _History of British Birds_ in 1797,
presents in one of his inimitable "tailpiece" wood-cuts a prevision of
the aeroplane. The picture shows the airman seated in a winged car,
guiding with reins thirteen harnessed herons as the motive power, and
mounting upwards, apparently very near the moon. If he can see the
modern interpretation of his dream he must be pleasantly surprised.
Bewick's woodcock is one of the most beautiful portraits in the book:
the accurate detail of the feather markings of the wings and back and
the softer tone of the breast are as nearly perfection as possible. A
woodcock visited Aldington in one of the very severe winters but
managed to elude all pursuers. It has been said, and also
contradicted, that the woodcock when rising from the ground uses its
long bill as a lever to assist its starting, just as an oarsman pushes
off from the bank with a boat-hook or oar; I myself have seen one
rising from a bare and marshy place, and the position of its bill
certainly gave me the impression that the idea was well founded.

The woodcock often breeds in the south of England, but is usually a
migrating bird, arriving during the first moon in November; it is not
difficult to shoot when it first rises, but when steam is really up
and it is zig-zagging between the branches of an oak, it takes a good
shot to make sure of it. I