204 CURIOUS SUPERSTITIONS. 



to suspend across it, in a suitable spot, the open mouth of a bag 

 net made of fine silk ; then going along the stream, he beats the 

 bushes to start the bird, which shooting along in the dim light, 

 rushes into the net, and is securely bagged. 



A curious superstition has long obtained that if the stuffed 

 skin of the Kingfisher be suspended by a thread to the ceiling 

 of a room, however closely shut up, it will yet turn its bill 

 weathercock wise to the quarter whence the wind blows. Hence 

 honest Kent, in " King Lear," in his rage against the insolent 

 steward, declares that 



" Such smiling rogues as these 

 * * * * * 



Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks 

 With every gale, and vary of their masters ;'' 



and again Barabas, in Marlowe's " Jew of Malta," says : 



" But now, how stands the wind ? 

 Into what corner peers my halcyon's bill ?" 



It appears that this superstition still keeps its ground in some 

 parts. Charlotte Smith tells us that she has once or twice seen 

 the Kingfisher hanging thus as a weathercock from the beam 

 of a cottage ceiling. It has lately been seen suspended for the 

 same purpose at Botley near Southampton ; where some of the 

 country people also believe that if a dead Kingfisher be sus- 

 pended by its bill, it will regularly turn its breast to show the 

 ebb and flow of the tide. 



The Corvidce, or Crow family, are far better known than liked, 

 although, as we shall find, that much may be said in their 

 favour. 



Very few people, it may be presumed, need the help of good 

 Mrs. Ford " to know Turtles from Jays" of the non-figurative 

 kind, though it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that there 

 are many who would fail to recognize in the gaily-coloured Jay 

 of the ornithologist (Corvus glandarius), a confrere of the sable 

 fraternity above mentioned. One of the Crows, however, the 

 Jay undoubtedly is, and a near ally of the Jackdaw (C'orvus 

 monedula), which, as Cowper reminds us, is 



" A great frequenter of the church, 

 Where, bishop-like, he finds a perch, 

 And dormitory t^o ;" 



