252 KINGFISHER. Class II. 



the vccal alcedo of the philofopher, ««« >i {*kv (p^ky^ttM, 

 xaQi^avao-a sm ruv ^ovokuv *^ which wds vocal and perched 

 upon reeds. Ariftotle fays, it is the left of the two, 

 but that both of them have a cyanean back f. 

 Belon labors to prove the 'vocal alcedo to be the 

 rotiJJc'iDle^ or the greater reed fparrow J, a bird 

 found in France and fome other parts of Europe^ 

 and of a very fine note : it is true that it is con- 

 verfant among reeds, like the bird defcribed by 

 ■ Ariftotle \ but as its colors are very plain, and that 

 ftriking charadler of the fine blue back is wanting, 

 we cannot aifent to the opinion of Belon ; but ra- 

 ther imagine it to be one of the loft birds of the 

 antients. 



Thofe who think we have faid too much on this 

 fubjecl, fhouM confider how incumbent it is on 

 every lover of fcience, to attempt placing the la- 

 bors of the antients in a juft light : to clear their 

 •works from thofe errors, that owe their origin to 

 the darknefs of the times ; and to evince, that ma- 

 ny of their accounts are ftridlly true ; many found- 

 ed on truth ; and others contain a mixture of fable 

 and reality, which certainly merit the trouble of fe- 

 paration. It is much to be lamented that travel- 



* Hiji, an, 892. . 



t NwTov xyavfov, the color of the cyanuSy or lapis lazuli, 



X Le Rouflerolle, Belon anj. 221. Le Roucherolle, Brijfon 

 a'u. II. 218. Greater reed fparrow, WiL prn, 143. Turdus 

 arundinaceus, Lin. fyjl. /p. zg6, 



lers 



