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these little animals to make their nest in the midst of the most stormy season, only to manifest his kindness by granting them a lasting calm. The seamen are not ignorant of this blessing; they call this interval of fair weather their halcyon days; and they are particularly careful to sieze the opportunity, as then they need fear no interruption." This, and a hundred other instances might be given of the credulity of mankind with respect to this bird: they entered into speculations concerning the manner of her calming the deep, the formation of her nest, and her peculiar sagacity; at present we do not speculate, because we know, with respect to our king-fisher, that most of the facts are false. It may be alledged, indeed, with some show of reason, that the halcyon of the ancients was a different bird from our kingfisher; it may be urged, that many birds, especially on the Indian Ocean build a floating nest upon the sea; but still the history of the ancient halcyon is clogged with endless fable; and it is but an indifferent method to vindicate falsehood by showing that a part of the story is true.

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The king-fisher with which we are acquainted at present has none of those powers of allaying the storm, or building upon the waves; it is contented to make its nest on the banks of rivers, in such situations as not to be affected by the rising of the stream. When it has found a place for its purpose, it hollows out with its bill a hole about a yard deep; or if it finds the deserted hole of a rat, or one caused by the root of a tree decaying, it takes quiet possession. This hole it enlarges at the bottom to a good size, and lining it with the down of the willow, lays its eggs there without any further preparation.

Its nest, or rather hole, is very different from that described by the ancients, by whom it is said to be made in the shape of a long-necked gourd of the

bones of the sea-needle. The bones, indeed, are found there in great quantities, as well as the scales of fishes; but these are the remains of the bird's food, and by no means brought there for the purposes of warmth or convenience. The king-fisher, as Bellonius says, feeds upon fish, but is incapable of digesting the bones and scales, which he throws up again, as eagles and owls are seen to do a part of their prey. These fill the bird's nest of course; and although they seem as if designedly placed there, are only a kind of nuisance.

In these holes, which, from the remains of fish brought there, are very fetid, the king-fisher is often found with from five eggs to nine. There the female continues to hatch even though disturbed; and though the nest be robbed, she will again return and lay there. "I have had one of those females brought me," says Reaumur, "which was taken from her nest about three leagues from my house. After admiring the beauty of her colours, I let her fly again, when the fond creature was instantly seen to return back to the nest where she had just before been made a captive. There joining the male, she again began to lay, though it was for the third time, and though the season was very far advanced. At each time she had seven eggs, The older the nest is, the greater quantity of fish-bones and scales does it contain: these are disposed without any order, and sometimes take up a good deal of room.

The female begins to lay early in the season, and excludes her first brood about the beginning of April. The male, whose fidelity exceeds even that of the turtle, brings her large provisions of fish while she is thus employed; and she, contrary to most other birds, is found plump and fat at that season. The male, that used to twitter before this, now enters the nest as quietly and as privately as possible.

The young ones are hatched at the expiration of twenty days; but are seen to differ as well in their size as in their beauty.

As the ancients have had their fables concerning this bird, so have the modern vulgar. It is an opinion generally received among them, that the flesh of the king-fisher will not corrupt, and that it will even banish all vermin. This has no better foundation than that which is said of its always pointing, when hung up dead, with its breast to the north. The only truth which can be affirmed of this bird when killed is, that its flesh is utterly unfit to be eaten; while its beautiful plumage preserves its lustre longer than that of any other bird we know!

Having thus given a short history of birds, I own I cannot take leave of this most beautiful part of the creation without reluctance. These splendid inhabitants of air possess all those qualities that can sooth the heart and cheer the fancy: the brightest colours, the roundest forms, the most active manners, and the sweetest music. In sending the imagination in pursuit of these, in following them to the chirping grove, the screaming precipice, or the glassy deep, the mind naturally lost the sense of its own situation, and, attentive to their little sports, almost forgot the task of describing them. Innocently to amuse the imagination in this dream of life is wisdom; and nothing is useless that, by furnishing mental employment, keeps us for a while in oblivion of those stronger appetites that lead to evil. But every rank and state of mankind may find something to imitate in those delightful songsters, and we may not only employ the time, but mend our lives by the contemplation. From their courage in defence of their young, and their assiduity in incubation, the coward may learn to be brave, and the rash to be patient. The inviolable attachment of some to their

companions may give lessons of fidelity; and the connubial tenderness of others, be a monitor to the incontinent. Even those, that are tyrants by nature, never spread capricious destruction, and, unlike man, never inflict a pain but when urged by necessity.

Á HISTORY OF FISHES.

PART I.

OF FISHES IN GENERAL.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

THE Ocean is the great receptacle of fishes. It has beeen thought, by some, that all fish are naturally of that salt element, and that they have mounted up into fresh water by some accidental migration. A few still swim up rivers to deposit their spawn; but of the great body of fishes, of which the size is enormous and the shoals are endless, those all keep to the sea, and would quickly expire in fresh water. In that extensive and undiscovered abode, millions reside, whose manners are a secret to us, and whose very form is unknown. The curiosity of mankind, indeed, has drawn some from their depths, and his wants many more: with the figure of these at least he is acquainted; but for their pursuits, migrations, societies, antipathies, pleasures, times of gestation, and manner of bringing forth, all these are hidden in the turbulent element that protects them.

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