3-038-984 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The months: January, 1871. 'Deep in the snow has the wild duck dug itself a cradle...In the foreground, to the right, we have a family party of three, whose species is better known than any other of our wildfowl. They are mallard, or common wild duck...The pert-looking bird to the left is the moor-hen, familiar to all who delight to loiter on the river's bank...The beautifully-marked little birds in the background one at once pronounce to be teal. A merry lot they are; some diving and splashing in the water, or turning up the thick mud in their search for insects, while others jabber together under the bushes...The comical-looking bird in the centre, its head peering over the low underwood, is the bittern...The curious sound emitted by this bird is well known to naturalists...the unpretentious little fellow perched on the bough to the right...is the bright-coated kingfisher...soon we shall see him dart down, like a hash of light, gently skim over the surface of the pool, and return to his perch, as quick as thought, with a finny captive in his bill. The kingfisher makes its nest in a deep hole, scooped out in the bank of some river'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.