lOO KINGFISHER. 



So Uryden, in his elegy on Cromwell ; 



Wars that have respect for his repose, 

 As winds for Halcyons when they breed at sea. 



Hence has arisen the proverbial expression of " Halcyon 

 days," when the winds are quiet and mariners may safely put to 

 sea. 



Blow, but gently blow, faire winde, 



From the forsaken shore, 

 And be as to the Halcyon kinde, 



Till we have ferry'd o'er. 



Browne. 



The Halcyon of the ancients was evidently a sea-bird ; the 

 Kingfisher is as certainly a bird of inland streams and secluded 

 waters. Virgil mentions among the signs of the weather, how 



tepidum ad solem pennas in littore pandunt 

 Dilectoe Thetidi alcyones. 



Geokg, 1, 393. 



Halcyons bask on the short sunny shore. 



Dryden. 



Pliny's account of the Halcyon is altogether so extraordinary 

 that it may be well to quote it in full, especially because it seems to 

 be the source from which many subsequent stories about the bird 

 are derived. He says : " The most remarkable on this account (as 

 birds of omen) are the Halcyons. The seas, and he that sails on 

 them, know the days when they hatch. The bird itself is a little 

 larger than a Sparrow, of a blue colour for the most part, but with 

 an intermixture of white and purple feathers, with a long slender 

 neck. One kind of them is distinguished by its size and by its 

 song. The smaller ones sing in the reed beds. It is very unusual 

 to see a Halcyon, and never except about the setting of the 

 Vergilise (the beginning of November) or at the winter Solstice :' 

 they sometimes fly round a ship and then make off at once for their 

 hiding places. They hatch in the winter ; at which time the days 

 are called halcyon, the sea being calm and navigable all the time 

 they last, off Sicily especially ; in other parts the sea is calmer, but 

 off Sicily quite manageable. They lay their eggs seven days before 

 the Solstice, and hatch them seven days after. Their nests are 



