THE HALCYON, OR KINGFISHER 59 



alders, when it takes quick flight, and he is left with 

 a new wonder the wonder at his own mistake. 



The rarity of the kingfisher and the loveliness of 



oo its plumage have made the bird much in request by the 

 bird-stuffer. Unfortunately it is easy of capture, by 

 a simple device which takes advantage of its habit of 

 darting under bridges, and which for love of the bird, 

 and for love of those who love it, is not here to 

 be divulged. When stuffed it is set up under glass to 

 adorn a corner of a room, and certainly, when the 

 work is done by a skilful taxidermist operating on a 

 fine specimen, the result is a thing of sufficient beauty. 

 But a strange use of great antiquity continues even Its use as 



100 yet to be made of the stuffed or dried kingfisher. It 

 is made to answer within doors the purpose of a 

 weather-vane. Suspended from the ceiling or rafters 

 by a line or single thread attached to its neck, this 

 singular weathercock, acting within the shelter of 

 walls and independently of contact with the winds of 

 heaven, turns a spontaneous beak to the quarter from 

 which the wind chooses at any hour to blow ! Refer- 

 ences to this meteorological service of the dead king- 

 fisher are not at all uncommon in our earlier poetry. 



110 ' How stands the wind ? ' says the Jew, looking up from 

 his gold on the counter ; ' into what corner peers my 

 halcyon's bill "? Ha ! to the east ; see how stand 

 the vanes ! ' They confirm the bird's report with 

 sufficient accuracy ' East, and by south ! ' But Shake- 

 speare's testimony is better known than Marlowe's : 

 eye- servants like the steward in King Lear are 

 described by Kent as 'turning their halcyon beaks 

 with every gale and vary of their masters '. Kent, 

 by the way, seems to have been a specialist in bird 



