BOOK X.] History of Nature. 219 



CHAPTER XXX. 

 Of the Merula. 



ABOUT Cyllen in Arcadia, and nowhere else, white 

 Merulae 1 are produced. The Ibis, about Pelusium only, is 

 black ; in all other Places it is white. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

 The Time of Birds' Breeding. 



ALL Singing-birds, besides those that are excepted before, 

 do not unwarily breed before the Spring Equinox, nor after 

 the Autumn. And those they hatch before the Solstice are 

 doubtful ; but after the Solstice they are lively. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



Of the Haley ones; and the .Days good for Navigation which 

 they show. Of the Gavia and Mergus. 



AND in this especially the Haley ones 2 are remarkable. 

 The Seas, and they that sail on them, know the Days when 

 they breed. This Bird is little bigger than a Sparrow ; for 



1 Albinoes are not uncommon in most sorts of birds ; but the black 

 Ibis is a separate species : Ibis falcinellus, Cuv. Wern. Club. 



2 Alcedo ispidcij LINN., Common Kingfisher; and A. halcyon, the 

 smaller Kingfisher. The former is commonly silent; but the latter 

 is highly musical, Belon praises highly its varied notes; which were 

 uttered so incessantly through the day and night, as to cause him to 

 wonder at its powers of song ; and to pity it, as if condemned to such 

 persevering labour. In addition to Pliny, who probably copies Aristotle, 

 uiElian (B. ix. ch. xvii.) also so minutely describes the nest of the King- 

 fisher, as to prove that he had closely examined something which had 

 been represented as such. But it was very different from what has been 

 since known when this bird builds a nest ; for it will not always under- 

 take the labour, but sometimes contents itself with leaving the eggs on 

 the bare earth, at the end of a hole in the ground. The only natural 

 object resembling that which Pliny and JSlian describe as the nest of the 

 Kingfisher, is the crust of a spatangus. For the Halcyon days, see 

 Vol. i. p. 85. Wern, Club. 



