THE CARRION CROW. 
165 
ings ; and according to its appearance they direct their measures, being 
then assured that land is not very remote." The classic myth which 
invests the halcyon, or kingfisher, with a certain poetic charm sur- 
vived to a comparatively late j^eriod : " Halcyon," says Willsford, " at 
the time of breeding, which is about fourteen days before the winter 
solstice, foreshows a quiet and tranquil time, as it is observed about 
the coast of Sicily, from whence the proverb is transported, the 
halcyon days." 
Hitherto we have confined ourselves chiefly to sea-birds, but, 
if the reader will pardon the digression, we may go further a-field, 
and remind him, for example, of the grisly character borne by the 
carrion crow, — supported by the insatiable appetite with which it 
preys on the dead and dying animal, — and the superstitions which 
have so long been connected with the raven. 
