OUR FRIENDS, THE BIRDS. 63 
Hence the name of Halcyon days from their name 
of the bird, Halcyon.” 
Miss Sweet recited the following poem that she had 
found somewhere although she did not know the 
author’s name: 
THE KING FISHER. 
When midsummer-sun burns fierce as flame 
From dawn till eve in the sky, 
Come down with me to the rocky vale 
Where the river glides softly by 
And under the shade of the willow trees 
The fishes in quiet lie. 
In the sleepy shadows that fringe the stream, 
The horehound and woodbine spring, 
And hid in the herbage green and cool, 
There nestles a wondrous thing 
That darts like a fairy arrow sped 
On a green and azure wing. 
His wing just ruffles the glossy wave, 
As he skims o’er the placid stream, 
Behold him, splendid in dazzling blue, 
Lit up by the noontide beam! 
If he would but stay! but he vanishes, 
As swift as a passing dream. 
Miss Sweet said: The lesson has been short, and 
we will defer the questions until we have listened to a 
story Laura has written about a bird which belongs to 
the same “order,” as ornithologists say: 
