82 MARCH 



XXVIII 



Shortly after Lord Tennyson's death, a contro- 

 versy took place in some of the papers 



blue Bird about the identity of the bird referred 



of March 



to by him in In Memoriam as ' the sea- 

 blue bird of March.' The weight of opinion seemed 

 in favour of the wheatear, which was not quite a 

 satisfactory conclusion, seeing that the wheatear has 

 not a single blue feather in its plumage. To quote 

 Yarrell's description ' The head, back, and scapulars 

 are of a fine light grey.' Now Tennyson was far 

 too close an observer of nature to write sea-blue 

 when he ought to have said pale grey ; so it was 

 interesting when Dr. Gatty came forward with a 

 little anecdote to set the matter at rest. It seems 

 that the poet once asked Dr. Gatty what bird he 

 thought was described in the phrase; and on Dr. 

 Gatty making a bad guess, he told him it was the 

 kingfisher. 



Why of March, rather than any other month, 

 was the next question, seeing that we have king- 

 fishers with us all the year round ? A writer in the 

 Pall Matt Gazette has solved that puzzle by quoting a 

 stanza from Alcman 



