ts) 
oy 
ae 
Nes *¥. 
KINGFISHER.  CrassII. 
fion than is ufual with that great philofopher: after 
his defcription of the bird, follows that of its neft, 
than which the moft inventive of the antients have 
delivered nothing that appears at firft fight more 
fabulous and extravagant. He relates, that it re~ 
fembled thofe concretions that are formed by the 
fea-water ; that it refembled the long necked gourd, 
thet it was hollow within, that the entrance was 
very narrow, fo that fhould it overfet the water 
could not enter; that it refifted any violence from 
iron, but could be broke with a blow of the hand; 
and that it was compofed of the bones of the Benom 
or fea-needle *. 
The neft had medical virtues afcribed to it; and 
from the bird was called Halcyoneum. In a fa- 
bulous age every odd fubftance that was flung a- 
fhore received that name ; a {pecies of tubular coral, 
a{ponge, a zoophvte, and a mifcellaneous concrete 
having by the antients been dignified with that title 
from their imaginary origin-+. Yet much of this 
feems to be founded on truth. The form of the 
neft agrees moft exactly with the curious account 
of it that Count Zinzanni has favored us with f. 
The 
* yoro. See alfo #izan. lib. ix. c. 17. Pha. ib. x. ¢. 32m 
+ Pha. lib. xxx. c. 8. Diofc. lib. v. c. g4- ; 
{ Nidifica egli nelle ripe degli acquidotti, o de piccoli tor- 
renti vicino al mare, formando perd il nido nei fiti piu alti di 
dette ripe, acciocché l’efcrefcenza delle acque non poffa infi- 
nuarfi nel d: ini foro; e faegli detto nido incavando inter- 
namente il terreno in tondo per la lunghezza di tre piedi, € 
riducendo 
