The Kingfisher. 277 



THE KINGFISHEE, (Alcedo ispida,) 



Is the Halcyon of the ancients, and his name recalls to 

 our mind the most lively ideas. It was believed, that, 

 as long as the female sat upon her eggs, the god of 

 storms and tempests refrained from disturbing the calm- 

 ness of the waves, and Halcyon days were, for navigators 

 of old, the most secure times to perform their voyages : 



" As firm as the rock, and as calm as the flood, 

 Where the peace-loving Halcyon deposits her brood." 



But although this bears analogy to a natural coinci- 

 dence between the time of breeding assigned to the 

 Kingfishers and a part of the year when the ocean is 

 less tempestuous, yet Mythology would exercise her 

 fancy, and turn into wonders that which was nothing 

 else than the common course of nature. 



This bird is nearly as small as a common sparrow, 

 but the head and beak appear proportionally too big 

 for the body. The bright blue of the back and wings 

 claims our admiration, as it changes into deep purple 

 or lively green, according to the angles of light under 

 which the bird presents itself to the eye. It generally 

 haunts the banks of rivers, for the purpose of seizing 

 small fish, on which it subsists, and which it takes in 

 amazing quantities, by balancing itself at a distance 

 above the water for a certain time, and then darting on 

 the fish with unerring aim. It dives perpendicularly 

 into the water, where it continues several seconds, and 

 then brings up the fish, which it carries to land, beats 



