ALCYON 4ND jlCALANTHIS. 127 



the news suddenly arrives that Aeneas is marching upon them, 



to the loud calls of this bird : 



Hio undique clampr 

 Disseusu vario magnus ee toUit ad auras : 

 Hand seous atque alto in luco cum forte catervae 

 Consedere avium, piscoaove amne Padusae 

 Dant Bonitum rauci per stagna loquaoia oyeni.* 



We now come to two birds mentioned in the same line of 

 the third Georgic. The poet is telling the farmer to water his 

 flocks in the eool evening of a hot day : 



Oum frigidus aera veeper 

 Temperat, et saltus leficit jam roscida luna, 

 Litoraque alcyonen reeonaat, acalanthida dumi.^ 



The first of these birds is also mentioned in a line of the 



first Georgic, which is mainly taken from Aratus : but it is 



significant that Aratus does not mention the 'alcyon' either here 



or anywhere else. 



Non tepidum ad solem penaaa in littore pandunt 

 Djlectae Thetidi aleyanes.' 



That the 'alcyon' of these two passages is to be identified with 



* With that a great noise rises aloft in diverse contention, even as 

 when flocks of birds haply settle on a lofty grove, and swans utter their 

 hoarse cry among the vocal pools in the fish-filled river of Padusa. Aen. xi. 

 456 ; cp. vii. 700. 



' Wlen cool eve 

 Allays the air, and dewy moon-beams slake 

 The forest glades, with halcyon's voice the shore 

 And every thicket with the goldfinch rings. &eorg, iii. 3^8. 

 " Not to the Sun's warmth there npon the shore 

 Do halycons dear to Thetis ope their wings. Qeorg, i, 398. 



