THE KING-FISHER. 



237 



bright azure ; the back and tail are of 

 the most resplendent azure ; the whole under- 



side of the body is orange-coloured ; a broad 

 mark of the same passes from the bill beyond 

 the eyes ; beyond that is a large white spot : 

 the tail is short, and consists of twelve fea- 

 thers of a rich deep blue ; the feet are of a 

 reddish yellow, and the three joints of the 

 outmost toe adhere to the middle toe, while the 

 inner toe adheres only by one. 



From the diminutive size, the slender short 

 legs, and the beautiful colours of this bird, no 

 person would be led to suppose it one of the 

 most rapacious little animals that skims the 

 deep. Yet it is for ever on the wing, and 

 feeds on fish, which it takes in surprising 

 quantities, when we consider its size and fig- 

 ure. It chiefly frequents the banks of rivers, 

 and takes its prey after the manner of the 

 osprey, balancing itself at a certain distance 

 above the water for a considerable space, 

 than darting into the deep, and seizing the 

 fish with inevitable certainty. While it re- 

 mains suspended in the air, in a bright day, 

 the plumage exhibits a beautiful variety of 

 the most dazzling and brilliant colours. It 

 might have been this extraordinary beauty 

 that has given rise to fable ; for whenever 

 there is any thing uncommon, fancy is always 

 willing to increase the wonder. 1 



Of this bird it has been said, that she built 

 her nest on the water, and thus, in a few 

 days, hatched and produced her young. But, 

 to be uninterrupted in this task, she was said 

 to be possessed of a charm to allay the fury of 

 the waves ; and during this period the mariner 

 might sail with the greatest security. The 

 ancient poets are full of these fables ; their 

 historians are not exempt from them. Cicero 

 has written a long poem in praise of the 



1 Montague, in his Ornithological Dictionary, says, 

 that they never suspend themselves on the wing, and 

 dart on their prey, like the osprey ; but that they sit pa- 

 tiently on a bough over the water, and when a small fish 

 comes near the surface, they dart on it, and seize it with 

 their bill. He never could observe the old birds with 

 any thing in their bills, when they went in to feed their 

 young: from which he concludes that they eject it from 

 their stomachs for this purpose. Sticklebucks and min- 

 nows form the principal food of the king-fisher, but it 

 will also eat fry or spawn, slugs, worms, and leeches. 



halcyon, of which there remain but two lines. 

 Even the emperor Gordian has written a 

 poem on this subject, of which we have no- 

 thing remaining. These fables have been 

 adopted each by one of the earliest fathers of 

 the church. " Behold/' says St Ambrose, 

 " the little bird, which in the midst of winter 

 lays her eggs on the sand by the shore. From 

 that moment the winds are hushed ; the sea 

 becomes smooth ; and the calm continues for 

 fourteen days. This is the time she requires ; 

 seven days to hatch, and seven days to foster 

 her young. Their Creator has taught these 

 little animals to make their nest in the midst 

 of the most stormy season, only to manifest 

 his kindness by granting them a lasting calm. 

 The seamen are not ignorant of this blessing ; 

 they call this interval of fair weather their 

 halcyon days ; and they are particularly care- 

 ful to seize the opportunity, as they then need 

 fear no interruption." This, and a hundred 

 other instances, might be given of the credu- 

 lity of mankind with respect to this bird ; they 

 enter into speculations concerning the manner 

 of her calming the deep, the formation of her 

 nest, and her peculiar sagacity ; at present 

 we do not speculate because we know, with 

 respect to our king-fisher, that most of the 

 facts are false. It may be alleged, indeed, 

 with some show of reason, that the halcyon 

 of the ancients was a different bird from our 

 king-fisher ; it may be urged, that many birds, 

 especially on the Indian ocean, build a float- 

 ing nest upon the sea ; but still the history of 

 the ancient halcyon is clogged with endless 

 fable ; and it is but an indifferent method to 

 vindicate falsehood, by showing that a part of 

 the story is true. 



The king-fisher with which we are ac- 

 quainted at present, has none of those powers 

 of allaying the storm, or building upon the 

 waves ; it is contented to make its nest on the 

 banks of rivers, in such situations as not to be 

 affected by the rising of the stream. When 

 it has found a place for its purpose, it hollows 

 out with its bill a hole about a yard deep ; or 

 if it finds the deserted hole of a rat, or one 

 caused by the root of a tree decaying, it takes 

 quiet possession. This hole it enlarges at the 

 bottom to a good size; and lining it with the 

 down of the willow, lays its eggs there with- 

 out any further preparation. 2 



2 Belon, who found the king-fisher plentiful on the 

 banks of the Hebrus, in Thrace, appears to have been 

 the first author who correctly stated that it makes its 

 nest by mining into the sand, and was somewhat fearful 

 that he should not be credited because he contradicted 

 the ancients. Up to the present time, however, more 

 or less misrepresentation has been introduced into the 

 descriptions of its burrow. Gesner furnished it with a 

 soft bed of reed flowers; Goldsmith says it lines its hole 

 with the down of the willow; and colonel Montague, 

 half reverting to the ball of fish bones described by 



