THE KINGFISHER. 275 



same precision as if they had been spoken by some person 

 in the next room ; and when the bell rang for mass, the 

 same bird called to its mistress, by name, " Mademoiselle, 

 entendez-vous la messe que Ton sonne ? Prenez votre 

 livre et revenez vite, donner a manger a votre polisson." 

 If this statement can be depended upon, M. Girardin might 

 well have been astonished. 



It was formerly believed that during the time the Halcyon 

 or Kingfisher was engaged in hatching her eggs, the water, 

 in kindness to her, remained so smooth and calm, that the 

 mariner might venture on the sea with the happy certainty 

 of not being exposed to storms or tempests ; this period 

 was therefore called, by Pliny and Aristotle, " the halcyon 

 days." 



" Expect Saint Martin's* summer, halcyon days." 



Henry VI. Part I. Act i. Sc. 2. 



It was also supposed that the dead bird, carefully 

 balanced and suspended by a single thread, would always 

 turn its beak towards that point of the compass from which 

 the wind blew. 



Kent, in King Lear (Act II. Sc. 2), speaks of rogues 



who 



" Turn their halcyon beaks 



With every gale and vary of their masters." 



And, after Shakespeare, Marlowe, in his Jeiv of Malta, 

 says, 



* To this day the bird is still called " Martin-pecheur " by the French. 



