24S A L C 
The young ones are hatched at the expiration of twenty 
days; but are feen to differ as well in their fize as in their 
beauty. This fpecies is the or mute halcy¬ 
on of" Ariftotle, which he defcribes with more precifion 
than is ufual with that great philofopher. After his de- 
i'cription of the bird follows that ot its nett; than which 
the moft inventive of the ancients have delivered nothing 
that appears at firft light more fabulous and extravagant. 
He relates, that it refembled thofe concretions that are 
formed by the lea-water; that it refembled the long-neck¬ 
ed gourd ; that it was hollow within; that the entrance 
was very narrow, fo that, (hould it overfet, the water could 
not enter; that it relifted any violence from iron, but could 
be broken with a blow from the hand; and that it was 
compofed of the bones of the / 3 :Aon?, or fea-needle. The 
iied bad medical virtues afcribed to it; and from the bird 
was called kalcyoneum. In a fabulous age, -every oddfub- 
llance that was flung afhore received that name ; a fpecies 
of tubular coral, a fponge, a zoophite, and a mifcellane- 
ous concrete, having by the ancients been dignified with that 
title from their imaginary origin. Yet much of this feems 
to be founded on truth. The form of the neft is juffly 
defcribed; and the materials which A riftotle fays it was 
compofed of, are not entirely of his own invention. Who¬ 
ever has feen tire nell of the kingsfiflier will obferve it 
brewed with the bones and fcales of lifli; the fragments 
of the food of the owner and its young. On the founda¬ 
tion laid by the philofopher, fucceeding writers formed 
other tales extremely abfurd; and the poets, indulging 
the powers of imagination, drelfed tire ftory in all the robes 
of romance. This neb was a floating one : 
■incubut halcyone pendentibus aequore nidis. 
Ovid. Met. lib. xi. 
-ft was therefore necefiary to place it in a tranquil fea, and 
to fupply the bird with charms to allay the fury of a tur¬ 
bulent element during the time of its incubation; for it 
had, at that feafon, power over the feas and the winds. 
X’ ahy.vjoi; ropncnovTi ra y.vy.xra^ rijr rs 'bocKa<JUOt.\i t 
T ov te v olor, rov t tvfoy^ o{ icry&'sa. Cpvxict y.nn 
Al.y.vovri') yha-wM 5 Nrifnivi rxi ts 
.Ofw8»» £<pi?uz$£y. Tbeocrit. Idyl. vii. 1 . 57. 
May halcyons fmooth the waves, and calm tire feas, 
And the rough fouth-eaft fink into a breeze; 
Halcyons , of all the birds that haunt the main, 
Molt lov’d and honour’d by the Nereid train. Fazvkes . 
Thefe birds were equally favourites with Thetis as with 
.the Nereids: 
Diledtae Thetidi halcyones. Ffrg. Georg, i. 399. 
as if to their influence thefe deities owed a repofe in the 
midft of the florins of winter, and by their means were 
fecured from thofe winds thatdifturb their fub-marine re¬ 
treats, and agitated even tire plants at the bottom of the 
ocean. Such are the accounts given by the Roman and 
Sicilian poets. Ariftotle and Pliny tell us, that this bird 
'is rhoft common in the leas of Sicily; that it fat only a 
•few days, and thofe in the depth of winter, and during 
■that period the mariner might fail in full fecurity; for 
which reafon they were fly led halcyon days: 
Perque dies placidos Iriberno tempore feptem 
■Incubat halcyone. pendentibus square nidis: 
Turn via tuta maris: ventos cuflodit, et arcet 
j&olus egrelfu. Ovid. Met. lib. xi. 
Alcyone , comprefs’d, 
Seven days fits brooding on her watery nc-ft, 
A wintry queen; her fire at length is kind, 
Calms every ftornr, and huflies every wind. Dryden. 
In after-times, thefe words came to exprefs any feafon of 
profperity: thefe were the halcyon days of the poets; the 
brief tranquillity, theJeptem placidi dies , of human life. 
—As the ancients have had their fables concerning this 
bird, fo have the modern vulgar, it is an opinion gene- 
E D O. 
rally received among them, that the fiefn of the kings- 
fi(her will not corrupt, and that it will even banilh all 
yermin. This has no better foundation than that which 
is faid of its always pointing, when hung up dead, with its 
breaft to the north. The only-truth which can be affirm¬ 
ed of this bird when killed is, that its fleih is utterly un¬ 
fit to be eaten; while its beautiful plumage preferves its 
luftre longer than that of any other. This bird is found 
not only in Britain, but throughout Europe, Alia, and 
Africa; as fpecimens have been received from both Chi¬ 
na, Bengal, and Egypt. Belon alfo remarks his having 
met with it in Romania and Greece; and Scopoli notices 
it as a bird of Carniola, where he fays it remains the whole 
year as in England. M. D’Aubenton has kept thefe birds 
for feveral months, by means of fmail fifir put into bafons 
of water, on which they have fed; for on experiment they 
have refuted all other kinds of nourithment. 
2. The rudis, or Egyptian kingsfilher, as defcribed by 
Haflelquift, is the fize of the Royfton crow. The bill is 
blackith, more than half an inch broad at the bafe, and 
two inches in length ; the head, thoulders, and back, are' 
brown, marked with oblong ferruginous fpots ; the throat 
is of a ferruginous white; the belly and thighs are whi- 
titil, marked with longitudinal broadifh cinereous fpots; 
the upper tail coverts quite white ; the quills l'potted with 
white on the inner webs, chiefly at the tips; tire tail is 
afli-coloured ; the iegs are of a pale green; and the claws 
blackifh. It inhabits Lower Egypt, about Cairo ; builds 
in fycamore and date trees; and feeds on frogs, infedts, 
and fmail filh, which lafl it meets with in the fields when 
they are overflowed. Its cry is not unlike that of the 
common crew. 
3. Lc taparara of Buffon is about the fize of a flarling. 
The upper mandible of the bill is black, the lower red; 
the hind part of the neck, the back, and fcapulars, are of 
an elegant blue; the rump and upper tail coverts bright 
beryl-blue; the under parts of the body are white; the 
wing coverts blue; and the legs red. Inhabits Cayenne 
and Guiana, at which lafl place the natives call all the 
kingsfiflier tribe by tire name taparara. In this part of 
South America, which contains many rivers full of fifh, 
kingsfifhers, as might be expedted, abound in vaft num¬ 
bers; but, what is remarkable, they never herd together, 
always being found Angle, except in breeding-time, which 
is about the month of September. They lay their eggs in 
the holes of banks, like the kingsfiflier of Europe. The 
cry of this bird imitates the word carac. 
4. The torquata, or cinereous kingsfiflier, is about the 
fize of a magpie, and fifteen inches and a half in length. 
The bill is three inches and a half long, and brown; tire 
bale of the lower mandible reddifh; the head is crefted ; 
the upper parts of the head and body are bluifli afh; the 
under parts chefnut; the throat is whitifh, def'cending 
down the neck, and palling behind like a collar, ending 
towards the back in a point; the under tail coverts are of 
a pale fulvous, tranfverfely-ftriated with black; (mailer 
wing coverts varied with bluifli, afh, black, and yellowifh ; 
the legs arc red, and the daws blackifh. It inhabits Mar- 
tinico and Mexico ; at which lafl it is called achalalacUL 
This bird migrates into the northern parts of Mexico at 
certain feafons only, and is fuppofed to come there from 
hotter regions. 
[The jacamars are much allied to this genus, and have 
been ranked under it by Linnaeus. Their toes are, how¬ 
ever, differently placed; their food alfo is different, being 
infeefs alone, and not fifh; and their haunts are different, 
being moift woods, and not fhoresor the banks of rivers.] 
5. The galbula, or green jacamar, is about the fize of a 
lark. The bill is black, of a fquare form, a little incur- 
vated, and fharp at the point; the plumage in general, in 
the upper part of the body, is of a moft brilliant green, 
gloffed with copper and gold in different iights; the belly, 
throat, and vent, are rufous; the tail is compofed of ten 
feathers, and-fhaped like a wedge; the legs are of a 
greenifh yellow, very fhort and weak; the claws are black. 
his 
