THE HALCYONS: THE HALCYON DAYS THAT ARE FAVORABLE TO NAVIGATION.
This bird is a little larger than a sparrow, and the greater part of its
body is of an azure blue color, with a slight intermixture of white and
purple in some of the larger feathers, while the neck is long and
slender. There is one kind that is remarkable for its larger size and
its note; the smaller ones are heard singing in the reed-beds. It is a
thing of very rare occurrence to see a halcyon, and then it is only
about the time of the setting of the Vergiliæ, and the summer and winter
solstices; when one is sometimes to be seen to hover about a ship, and
then immediately disappear. They hatch their young at the time of the
winter solstice, from which circumstance those days are known as the
"halcyon days:" during this period the sea is calm and navigable, the
Sicilian sea in particular. They make their nest during the seven days
before the winter solstice, and sit the same number of days after. Their
nests are truly wonderful;[176] they are of the shape of a ball slightly
elongated, have a very narrow mouth, and bear a strong resemblance to a
large sponge. It is impossible to cut them asunder with iron, and they
are only to be broken with a strong blow, upon which they separate, just
like foam of the sea when dried up. It has never yet been discovered of
what material they are made; some persons think that they are formed of
sharp fish-bones, as it is on fish that these birds live. They enter
rivers also; their eggs are five in number.
The sea-mew builds its nest in rocks, and the diver in trees as well.