White-breasted Kingfisher. 

 (Halcyon smyrnensis.) 



XV.— THE KINGFISHEE. 



" On the shore 



The halcyons hved of Thetis spread their wings." — 



Virgil. 



There seems to be some reason for suspecting 

 that the goddess's pets were terns, not Kingfishers 

 after allj but nevertheless Aristotle describes a bird 

 as at any rate one sort of " halcyon " which certainly 

 could not have been anjrthing else but a Kingfisher 



