ren" still
kept up, we believe, in some parts of this country,) it is considered
unlucky to kill a _Swallow_, or _House-Martin_. The _King-fisher_ is the
Halcyon of the ancients, who imagined that during the process of
incubation by the female the sea remained unvexed by storms; hence
"halcyon days." The feathers of this bird are employed by the Tartars for
many superstitious purposes; they consider them amulets of priceless value,
enabling them to inspire women with love. In more civilized countries it
was once believed, that if the body of a kingfisher were suspended by a
thread, some magnetic influence would turn its breast to the north: others
thought it a preserver of woollen cloths from moths. The _Albatross_ (by
some considered the kingfisher or halcyon,) is fabled to sleep in the air,
never to touch the earth; and to kill one is reckoned supremely unlucky.
There is an Indian bird, the name of which has unfortunately escaped us,
that is feigned to live only on the rain-drops which it can draw with its
bill from the clouds; in a dry season, therefore, this bird perishes. Of
the _Bird of Paradise_ the following wonders were once credited: viz. that
the egg was laid in the air by the female, and there hatched by the male
in an orifice of his body; that it had no legs (these however are long,
and a disfigurement to the body, which the Indians know, and fearful of
their depreciating the value of the bird, upon capturing it, cut them off);
that it hung itself by the two long feathers of its tail on a tree when
sleeping; that it never touched the ground during any period of its
existence, and fed wholly on dew. The Indians also believe that the leader,
or king of the birds of paradise is black, with red spots, and that he
soars far away from the rest of the flock, which, however, never quit him,
but settle where he does. The _Gigantic Crane_ is believed by the Indians
to be invulnerable, and animated by the souls of deceased Brahmins; the
Africans hold it in equal veneration. Whence arises the classical fable
that swans sing their own dirge just previous to death, and expire singing
it? The wild swan certainly may be said to whistle, but the tame has no
other note than a hiss, and this only when provoked. The Kamschatdales and
Kuriles wear round their necks the bills of _Puffins_, as an amulet which
ensures good fortune. Who was _Mother Carey_?--The wife, perhaps, of
"_Davy_," and keeper of his "locker;" Mother Carey's chi