17 



BALCYONIDiK. 



HALCYON II). 1C. 



prey, and when it has secured a passing fish by a sudden dash, beats 

 it to death against a stone on the ground, and then swallows it. At 

 other times it will hover suspended over the water, and dart on its 

 j.rey, but the bird usually makes its attack from a station. The editor 

 of the last edition of Pennant states that it has been seen balancing 

 itself over the water in which a great many of the small, round, 

 shining beetles were swimming swiftly in circles (Gyrinns natatory), 

 and which it makes its prey. 



This species, when adult, appears to be mute except at the season 

 of pairing ; but the young are very clamorous, and frequently betray 

 their retreat before they leave the nest which they do not quit till 

 they are fully fledged by their cries. Before they provide for them- 

 selves, which they soon do, they sit on some branch while the parents 

 fish for them, and on their approach with food are very noisy. 



The flight of this bird is most rapid ; it darts by like an iridescent 

 gleam. 



Temminck states that A Icedo ispida occurs more in the south of 

 Europe than in the north. In Holland, he says that it is not widely 

 spread. Mr. Selby says that it is generally dispersed through Europe, 

 and that our birds differ in no respect from those of the same species 

 in Asia and Africa, as he has had an opportunity of examining 

 specimens from both continents. M. Temminck observes that the 

 most common of the three species of Kingfisher must not be con- 

 founded with our A. ij,ida, though it diffsrs but little from it. The 

 Common Kingfisher is a resident with us, as it is in Italy and other 

 Kurnpean countries. Mr. Gould says that the young in the British 

 Islands appear to have habits of partial migration, as they wander 

 from the interior along the rivers to the coasts, frequenting in the 

 autumnal and whiter months the mouths of small rivulets and dykes 

 near the sea ; but more particularly along the line of the southern 

 coast and the shores of adjacent inlets. We may here remark, that 

 in the 'Portraits d'Oyseaux' of Belon, the following quatrain is 

 printed under the cut of the Common Kingfisher : 



" L Martinet-Pescheur fait sa demeure 

 En temps d'hjnrer au bord de 1'ocean : 

 Et en eMt- our riviere ou estan : 

 Et dc poiason sc repaist u toute heure." 



It may be imagined that a bird of which so many marvellous stories 

 have been told, under the idea of its being the Halcyon of the 

 ancients, whose so-called met, the JluJryoneum, was supposed to be 

 endowed with medical properties, did not entirely escape the attention 

 of the superstitious moderns. Thus its dried body was said to 

 preserve woollen cloth from the moth, and if suspended by a thread 

 from the ceiling of a room with doors and windows closed, to turn 

 its bill towards the quarter whence the wind blew. 



Barabas, in Marlowe's ' Jew of Malta,' says 



" Bat now how <Unds the wind I 

 Into what corner peers my Halcyon's bill I 

 Hi! to the eartt ye." 



Kent (' King Lear,') when, in his answer to Cornwall, he is rebuking 

 such ' slaves ' as the ' Steward,' declares that they 



" Kcnege, affirm, and turn their Halcyon beaks 

 AVith every Kiile ;ind vary of their masters. " 



Mrs. Charlotte Smith states that she once or twice saw a stuffed 



bird of thin species hanging from the beam of a cottage-room as a 



weather-vane to show the way of the wind. It has lately been seen 



ion at Botley near Southampton. In the same part 



of the country some of the common people fancy that if a dead 



Kingiuher be suspended by the bill it will turn its breast according 



to the clili nnd How of the tide. The bird was also supposed to be 



n*t> thunder, to increase bidden treasure, to bestow 



and l-auty on the person who earned it, and to renew its 



plumage, dead as it was, every season by moulting. 



\\ ith reference to the question as to what species was meant by 



Ari-totle, the reader should be aware that another Kingfisher, Alcedo 



'if LinnaMis (IijatlaCI) .Swainson), occurs in the islands of the 



go, though Africa and Asia appear to be its more 



particular localities. The species is figured in Mr. Gould's beautiful 



work on the ' Birds of Europe.' 



Iipida. Habit of Alcedo. Culmen obtuse, somewhat flattened, 



and margini-d on each side by an indented groove. Tail lengthened, 



Inner toe much longer than the hinder. Claws cither 



deeply notched, or cleft, so as to present two acute unequal points. 



nson.) 



Geographical Distribution. Chiefly the New World. (Swainson.) 



Mr. Swainson, who, in his 'Classifi. atioii of Birds,' givs the habitat 



above stated, describes two species, Iipidn giyantea and /. bicincta, in 



Ills birds of Western Africa. He states, and with reason, that among 



i/.-d Kinglishers that have long been imperfectly known 



> rated in our systems, there is the greatest confusion, not 



;is to the characters of the birds themselves, but likewise in 



regard to their native countries. We have therefore, knowing the 



accuracy of Mr. Swainson's pencil, copied his figures of Halcyon 



",. and Alcyntif Aimi rnli, (the latter from 



in Hi.' ' /..il.,gical Illustration*,' with the aid 



of i the Museum of the Zoological S.i.'iriy ,.f London), 



BAT. HUT'. HIV. Vn F,. III. 



as the best, if not the only mode of conveying to the reader thu 

 forms that he would designate under the names of Halcyon, Ispida, 

 and Alcyone. 



Above, cinereous, spotted with white; chin and cheeks white, 

 immaculate; breast with a broad rufous collar; head above black, 

 crested behind. 



It is a native of Senegal. 



gigantca. Svvaiuson. 



Tanys'tptera. Bill rather short, somewhat thick, straight, acute; 

 nostrils oval. Tail gi-aduated ; two middle tail-feathers longest. 

 (Vigors.) Mr. Swainson gives India as its habitat. 



T. Dea ; Alcedo Dea, Linn. ; Ispida Ternatana, Briss. Above, 

 intense black azure, white beneath ; head and wing-coverts ctcrulean ; 

 tail-feathers white margined with cacrulean, the two middle ones 

 coerulean, with their apices club-shaped and white. (Vigors.) 



Alcyone,. Bill as in A train; but the feet with only three toes. 

 Auntralin. (Hwainson.) 



