. The illustrated natural history [microform]. Birds; Natural history; Oiseaux; Sciences naturelles. THE TINY KINGFISHER. 188 can l)e heard at PI cms to lie, it Iosps nil its gorgeousness -when viewed against freshly fallen snow, and ia not a whit less dull than that of the dipiier. This enri^us fact is noticed by IVfr. Tlioni])Son, whose acute and jiractised eye Mas luiable to reeognise the speeies of a siiiall Lrown hiid that continually tlitted across his path as ho was engaged in shootiii' woodcocks, and who vas so i)erplexed by its curious style of llight, that he at last shot it, and to
. The illustrated natural history [microform]. Birds; Natural history; Oiseaux; Sciences naturelles. THE TINY KINGFISHER. 188 can l)e heard at PI cms to lie, it Iosps nil its gorgeousness -when viewed against freshly fallen snow, and ia not a whit less dull than that of the dipiier. This enri^us fact is noticed by IVfr. Tlioni])Son, whose acute and jiractised eye Mas luiable to reeognise the speeies of a siiiall Lrown hiid that continually tlitted across his path as ho was engaged in shootiii' woodcocks, and who vas so i)erplexed by its curious style of llight, that he at last shot it, and to his regret fiiuud that he had killed a Kingfisher. So conspicuous a bird as the Kingfisher takes, as niay bo imagined, a conspicuous pint in legends of antiquity, and the tiaditions of the present day. The classical scholar is familiar with the exjiression " Halcyon days," which is so iivrpiently eni])loyed to denote a season f)f s])ecial security and joyousnes's, and is derived freiii an old fable, that the Halcyon or Kinglisher made its nest on the surface of the seas and jKissessed some innate ]/ower of charming the waves andAvinds to rest during the time of its incubation. Eourteen days of calm weather were in the power of the Kingfisher, or Ak'yone, who was fabled to be the daughter of iKolus, wearing a fratliered form in token (if grief ibr the loss of C\yx, h(!r husband, and to have derived her authority from her iather, the lord of winds. In many parts of England at the present day there is a singular idea the Kingfisher, which seems to have its origin in the same mythical history. Those \\ho are familiar with cottage life in the rural <listricts Mill olb ti have noticed a Kingfisher suspended by the point of the beak from the beams of the ctiiling, and if they have"asked the object of the custom, will learn that the bird always turns its breast towards the quarter from which the wind is blowing. Some writers in mentiojung this custom have
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectnaturalhistory
