HALCYON.] NATURAL HISTORY. 139 



Halcyon. 



St. Martin's summer, halcyon days. 



i. KING HENRY VI., i. 2, 131. 



Turn their halcyon beaks with every gale. 



KING LEAR, ii. 2, 84.. 



A BIRD called also King's- fisher, because she fishcth in 

 the sea, and casteth herself with such force at the fishes. 

 She conceiveth in the sea, and in it she brings forth her 

 young and that in chill and cold weather ; and mean- 

 while the heaven is serene, and the sea tranquil, nor 

 agitated by troubles of winds. Hence those serene days 

 are called Halcyon-days. 



Minsk eu's Dictionary, s.v. 



SHE deposits her eggs in the sand, and that in mid- 

 winter, when the sea rises highest, and the waves beat very 

 strongly on the shore ; but while she hatches out, the sea 

 grows suddenly quiet, and all windy storms cease. And 

 she sits on her eggs for seven days, and then brings out 

 her young, whom she rears for other seven days. And 

 therefore seamen watch for these xiv days, expecting calms. 

 Her nest cannot be cut by iron, but is broken by a strong 



knock. 



Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. 8. 



THERE is a second kind of them breeding about the 

 sea-side, differing both in quantity and also in voice ; for 

 it singeth not as the former do, which are lesser ; for they 

 haunt rivers, and sing among the flags and reeds. It is a 

 very great chance to see one of these Halcyons, and never 

 are they seen but about the setting of the star Virgilix 

 (i.e., the Brood-hen) ; or else near mid'- summer or mid- 

 winter : for otherwhiles they will fly about a ship, but 

 soon are they gone again and hidden. In the beginning 

 of December they build. Their nests are wondrously made, 

 in fashion of a round ball ; the mouth or entry thereof 

 standeth somewhat out, and is very narrow, much like 

 unto great sponges. And no man could ever find of what 

 they be made. Some think they are framed of the sharp- 

 pointed pricks of some fishes, for of fish these birds live. 



Hollands Pliny, bk. x. ch. xxxii. 



