190 kingfisher; ClafsIL 



in all the robes of romance. This neft was a float- 

 ing one ; 



Incubat halcyone pendentibus sequore nidis *, 

 It was therefore neceiTary to place it in a tranqulj 

 fea, and to fupply the bird with charms to allay the 

 fury of a turbulent element during the time of its in- 

 cubation •, for it had, at that feafon, power over thq 

 feas and the winds. 



Tiv T£ toiov, 10V r evooii, o; scr^ara (pvy.ia Kti'si* 



A ?\KVQiS';, yT^xvy-uti; Nrfji^^J "ral ts yiocKiTCt 



0^'A^u)v i^'i^x^iy. Ibeccrit. Idyl. vii. 1. 57 f. 



Thefe birds were equally favorites with ^heHs as 



with the Nereids ; 



Diledffi Iketidl Halcyones. Virg. Georg. I. 399. 



As if to their influence thefe deities owed a repofe in 

 the midft of the ftorms of winter, and by their means 

 were fecured from thofe winds that difturbed their 

 fubmarine retreats, and agitated even the plants at 

 the bottom of the ocean. 



Such are the accounts given by the Roman and 

 Sicilian poets, Arijlotle and Fliny tell us, that this 

 bird is moft common in the feas of Sicily : that it fat 

 only a few days, and thofe in the depth of win»ter ; 

 and during that period the mariner might fail in full 

 fecurity ; for which reafon they were ilyled, Uakyon 



* Ovid. Met. lib, xi. 



-}- May Halcyons fmooth the waves, and calm the feas. 

 And the rough fouth-eaft fink into a breeze; 

 Halgcr.s oi z\\ the birds that haunt the main, 

 Moil lov'd and honor'd by the Nereid train. Faixihs. 



X J^rifi, hijl. an. 541. Plin. lib. X, c. 32. lib. xvili. c. 24. 

 ii?^io;:iitt r,a?f«( of the former \ and dies hakymides of the latter. 



Pel que 



\ 



