Outlines for Scout Workers: The Kingfisher

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Outlines for Scout Workers

BY DELBERT W. PARRATT, B. S.

X —THE BELTED KINGFISHER THE KINGFISHER "What bird digs deeply round and round A running tunnel, underground? "This bird which has so large a bill We see beside the waters still; There Fisher waits in patient mood To seize small fishes for her food." 1. Why is this bird called a fisher? Why a kingfisher? Why a belted kingfisher? 2. By what other name is this kingfisher known? 3. Tell of its color and size. Contrast the male and female birds in these respects. 4. On what does the kingfisher feed? What is there about it to indicate this? 5. Tell how it kills and swallows its prey. 6. Where, when, and how does the kingfisher make its nest? 7. Tell of size, color, and number of eggs.

"02 IMPROVEMENT ERA 8. Describe the kingfisher's sour. When are these peculiar sounds made? Why then? 9. Where is the bird usually found? Why there? 10. What is meant by "halcyon days?" Why so called?

HANDY MATERIAL The bird under consideration catches fish for a living and is therefore called a fisher. He has a crest or crown on his head and in consequence is termed a king fisher. And on account of the prominent belt of dark blue running from shoulder to shoulder across his breast he is fittingly referred to as the belted king- fisher. He is the only one of the kingfisher family native to our western continent, and to distinguish him from his European relatives he is often called the western kingfisher. In length, he measures ordinarily some twelve or thirteen inches. The female, as with most birds, is somewhat smaller than the male. The predominant color of both sexes is a pleasing, ashy blue. This covers the head, back, wings, and tail. The neck and under parts are whitish, running into a reddish brown towards the sides under the wings. Besides this a characteristic white spot is in front of each eye and like dots sprinkle wings and tail. Both male and female are much alike in color and markings however, the "lady bird's" belt and head dress are ;

somewhat brownish instead of blue, but the "gentleman's" colors are a little more showy and his contrasts a little more pro- nounced. When on the look-out for fish, the alert fisherman stands ] perfectly still upon some limb or rock projecting over the stream o r lake and keeps his keen eyes riveted upon the water. At the sight of coveted prey, he makes a "bee line" for it and seldom misses. Upon splashing from the surface, all the water readily leaves his oily feathers and he is free to fly back to his perch with captured fish securely gripped in his long, stout, black bill. With surprising dexterity, the unfortunate fish is clutched by the tail and then pounded to death against the stone or limb. After Mr. Kingfisher has killed his victim, he swallows it, head first, with apparent difficulty. This "last sad rite" is accomplished with grotesque gulping, stretching of neck, flapping of wings, and twisting of body. But when the performance is ended, the fisherman's contented poise and peaceful air give evidence that the meal was well worth his strenuous effort. While minnows and other fish of like size are the kingfisher's favorite diet, he seems delighted at catching a small snake or even a frog. He is also fond of shrimps, mollusks. leeches, lizards, crickets, and water beetles. In every case, however, he prefers them right fresh and to be sure of this he shows a de- cided anxiety to do the killing himself.

OUTLINES FOR SCOUT WORKERS 703

In the spring time, during mating season, the kingfishers choose their nesting place, usually in some secluded river or lake bank. After deciding the place, both male and female birds en- gage in drilling the hole into the bank. At first they poise in the air some distance from the selected spot and then with swift flight ram their pointed bills into the soil, clay, or sand until a hole about four inches in diameter and three or four inches deep is made. After this they drill while standing in the hole until an opening from two to six feet deep is cut into the bank. It is interesting to note that this long tubular hole always slants upward, thus providing back drainage for any water that might enter, and at the same time affording a downward slope for the material that is being worked out as the birds drill farther and farther into the bank. At the far end of the excavation a little room is gouged out and in the bottom of this the isolated nest is built. In the nest from six to eight pure white or else pinkish white eggs are laid. Ordinarily but one brood of young is raised in a season and the old birds often use the same nest year after year. The kingfisher's song, if it can be called such, is a harsh screech, often heard fully half a mile away. The birds are especially noisy during mating season and at times of apparent or real danger. The song seems to indicate either pleasure or danger according to the conditions under which it is used. The belted kingfisher is found quite generally throughout our country except in the colder regions of Canada and Alaska. It is not at all uncommon to see him in various parts of Utah where he can live without serious molestation and where food may be had in ample quantities. His presence is often noted along the Jordan, Bear, Provo, and Weber rivers and also along other but smaller streams indirectly contributory to our Great Salt Lake. In olden days, people held that the kingfisher possessed strange, occult powers and by virtue of these was able to control the winds and weather. According to their calculations, the kingfisher or halcyon, as it was then called, always managed to have delightful weather during its brooding season, and in conse- quence these fine days became known as "halcyon days." At the present time, any season of tranquility, moral, social, or physical, is commonly referred to by the same appellation.

In line with the notion of subtle powers exercised by the halcyon, the ancients very often used its stuffed skin as a weather- vane. It was suspended in the open by a thread in such a way as to indicate the wind's direction and, moreover, its presence was supposed to bring "good luck" storms to the person hanging it up. It thus served in similar but more limited capacity to the tradi- tional horse-shoe frequently nailed by its finder above the door of his barn or house.

704 IMPROVEMENT ERA THE KINGFISHER For the handsome kingfisher, go not to the tree, No bird of the field or the forest is he; In the dry river rock he did never abide, And not on the brown heath all barren and wide. He lives where the fresh, sparkling waters are flowing, Where the tall, heavy Typha and Loosestrife are growing: By the bright little streams that all joyfully run Awhile in the shadow, and then in the sun. He lives in a hole that is quite to his mind, With the green mossy Hazel roots firmly entwined; Where the dark Alder-bough waves gracefully o'er, And the Sword-flag and Arrow-head grow at his door. There busily, busily, all the day long, He seeks for small fishes the shallows among; For he builds his nest of the pearly fish bone, Deep, deep in the bank, far retired, and alone. Then the brown Water-rat from his burrow looks out, To see what his neighbor Kingfisher's about; And the green Dragon-fly, flitting slowly away, Just pauses one moment to bid him good-day. O happy Kingfisher! what care should he know, By the clear, pleasant streams, as he skims to and fro, Now lost in the shadow, now bright in the sheen Of the hot summer sun, glancing scarlet and green! MARY HOWITT.

The Meaning of Education

BY E. G. PETERSON, PH. D., PRESIDENT UTAH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

II. —Education is not a Closed-in System Education is not a closed-in system. It is as broad as the universe and human experience. I have seen men with good records from colleges who yet were not educated. I have seen men who have spent their youth and early manhood on the range, in the saddle, doing what are thought to be the rough things of life, yet they have come out of it, never having seen possibly the inside of a college, cultured and

refined gentlemen. Passing successfully through a course of study in an institution of higher learning is only one of the ways of acquiring that mental power and that stability of character which should go with education. To ride the range, to manage a farm, to struggle to pull a family out of debt and supply com- forts and necessities to relatives, these are sometimes equivalent, sometimes much superior, to a college course in educating a young man or woman. You have had the experience, if you have lived in these wonderful valleys many years, of encountering powerful minds and powerful characters behind plows, in work shops, tending canals, and elsewhere at the busy tasks of the world. And