242 The Birds of Virgil. 



the alcyon piping and pluming himself on the 

 shore is perfectly consistent with the habits of 

 the bird. I have myself seen it on the coast of 

 Dorset, "pennas in littore pandens," and taking 

 flight over a bay full half a mile in width. A 

 greater difficulty lies in the alleged vocal powers 

 of the bird ; they sing, Pliny tells us, in the reeds, 

 and Virgil's alcyon makes the shore echo with his 

 voice. The Kingfisher, so far as I know, is a 

 silent bird except when disturbed ; he will then 

 utter a shrill pipe as he flies away. But I am 

 quite at a loss to explain his singing, except by 

 supposing that this was one of several curious 

 delusions that had gathered round a curious 

 bird. 1 



The other bird mentioned in the lines last 

 quoted is, and perhaps will remain, a puzzle. 

 Mr. Rhoades makes it the Goldfinch, following 

 the commentators, who themselves follow an old 

 tradition W 7 hich will not bear criticism, and in 

 favour of which I can find nothing more con- 



1 E. g. Aristotle gives, and Pliny copies from him, an extra- 

 ordinary account of the nest and eggs. N. H. ix. 14. See 

 Note C, at end of volume. 



