228 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



so bad to believe in fairy-tales about beautiful 

 birds, as the ignorant Indian natives do, as to 

 shoot them for museums, as we do in Europe. 



The kingfisher is another of our birds 

 which every one has noticed when they have 

 had the luck to get a look at a bird which is 

 so swift and shy and so we find it is one of 

 the birds of legend, in Europe at all events ; 

 I never heard of any tales of it in India, where 

 it is common and tame, and only one among 

 many brilliant birds. It used to puzzle the 

 ancient Greeks very much ; at least, so one 

 would think from the story they told about 

 its nest. They thought that it was specially 

 favoured by the gods, who kept the sea calm 

 for the birds for a fortnight in winter, because 

 their nests floated on the water ; and as the 

 Greek name for the kingfisher is halcyon, we 

 even now speak of very beautiful weather, 

 or an unusually peaceful time, as " halcyon 

 days." Centuries later, even up to the time 

 of Shakespeare, people still had the idea that 

 kingfishers had so much to do with the weather 

 that even a preserved specimen hung up in 

 a room, would show the way the wind was 

 blowing by turning its beak in that direction ; 



