KINGFISHER. 449 



and such a season has therefore given rise to the proverbial 

 expression " Halcyon Days." One version of the fable attri- 

 buted this supposed fact to the influence of iEolus, the 

 wind-god and father of Halcyone, and, in his translation of 

 Ovid's Metamorphoses, Dryden has the lines— 



"Her sire at length is kind, 



Calms every storm, and hushes every wind." — Book xi. 



W. Browne, who died in 1590, wrote in ' Britannia's Pas- 

 torals,' — 



" Blow, but gently blow, faire winde : 

 From the forsaken shore, 

 And be as to the Halcyon kinde, 



Till we baue ferry'd o're." — Book ii. song 5, 11. 253-256. 



But the other version supposes that Kingfishers had power 

 to quell the storm, as seen by the line of Theocritus, rendered 

 by Fawkes 



"May halcyons smooth the waves, and calm the seas." — Idyl. vii. 1. 73. 



Shakespear refers to the belief, putting into the mouth of 

 La Pucelle (K. Henry VI. pt. I. act i. sc. 2) the words 



" Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days." 



This was, however, not the only quality attributed to the King- 

 fisher. Albertus Maguus speaks of its dried body moulting 

 its feathers, and it was supposed to be, when kept in a 

 wardrobe, a preservative of the woollen stuffs therein laid. 

 It likewise averted thunder-bolts and possessed other virtues, 

 while there was a general belief that the dead bird hung by a 

 thread would always turn its bill to the point of the compass 

 whence the wind blew. Storer, who died in 1G04, says — 



" Or as halcyon, with her turning brest 

 Demonstrates wind from wind, and east from west." 



Wolscius Triumphant. 



Marlowe, about the same time, has the lines — 



" But how now stands the wind ' 

 Into what corner peers my halcyon's bill ?" — Jew of Malta, act i. sc. 1. 



And, after him, Shakespear makes Kent (Lear, act ii. sc. 2) 

 speak of rogues who 



" turn their halcyon beaks 



With every gale and vary of their masters." 



