Claf^IL KINGFISHER. 1S9 



hand ; and that it was compofed of the bones of the 

 EiKovn or fea- needle *. 



Yet much of this feems to be founded on truth. The 

 form of -the neft agrees mod exaiSlly with the curious 

 accountof it that count Zinamii has favored us with f. 

 The materials which AriftotU fays it was compofed of, 

 are not entirely of his own invention. V/hoever has 

 feen the nefi: of the kingnllier, will obferve it ftrewed 

 with the bones and fcales of fifh-, the fragments of the 

 food of the owner and its young : and thofe who de- 

 ny that it is a bird that frequents the fea, muft not 

 confine their ideas to our northern fhores ; but reflect, 

 that birds that inhabit a fheltered place in the more 

 rigorous latitudes, may endure expofed ones in a 

 milder clime. Arijlotk made his obfervations in the 

 eaft : and allows, that the halcyon fometimes afcen- 

 ded livers ;|: ; pofiibly to breed : for v/e learn from 

 Zinamii^ that in his foft climate, Italy^ it. breeds in 

 May^ in banks of dreams that are near the fea •, and 

 having brought up the firft hatch, returns to the fame 

 place to lay a fecond time. 



On this foundation, the fucceeding writers formed 

 feveral other tales equally abfurd •, and the poets, in- 

 dulging the powers of imagination, drelTed the ftory 



* 1050. See alfo j^Uan. lib. ix. c. 17. Plin. lib. x. c. 32. 



t Nidifica egli nelle ripe degli acquidotci, o de piccol? torrenti 

 vicino al mare, formando pero il nido nei fiti piu alti di dette 

 ripe, acciocche I'efcrefcenza delle acque non pofTa infinuarfi nel di 

 lui foro ; e fa egli detco nido incavaado internamente il terreno in 

 tondo per la lunghezza di tre piedi, e riducendo il fine di detto foro 

 afoggia di battello, tuttocoperto di fcaglie di pefci, che reftano 

 vagaraente intrecciate ; ma forie non ibno cosi difpofte ad artej 

 bensi per accidente. 



J A>«,?«ws» ^i TJ «7r* Try? TroT^p-y?. Hift. an. IO5O, 



O I in 



