. Bombay ducks; an account of some of the every-day birds and beasts found in a naturalist's Eldorado . rtunate in havingattracted the attention of the poets. Very few of thesegentry can ever have seen any of the birds, but all ofthem have heard of them, and this they think suffi-cient to warrant their writing on the subject. Let megive a few choice specimens of what the poets arecapable of. Howitt writes of the scarlet plume of the must, however, not be too severe upon this is quite possible that some wag dipped a sparrow inred ink and showed it to the poet as a kingfisher.
. Bombay ducks; an account of some of the every-day birds and beasts found in a naturalist's Eldorado . rtunate in havingattracted the attention of the poets. Very few of thesegentry can ever have seen any of the birds, but all ofthem have heard of them, and this they think suffi-cient to warrant their writing on the subject. Let megive a few choice specimens of what the poets arecapable of. Howitt writes of the scarlet plume of the must, however, not be too severe upon this is quite possible that some wag dipped a sparrow inred ink and showed it to the poet as a kingfisher. Theaverage poet seems to regard the bird as a sort ofmelodious seagull, having the habits of the bald the following quotations will prove:— (i) Bird of calm that sits brooding on the charmed wave.(2) When winter halcyons, flickering on the wave,Tune their complaints, yon sea forgets to rave,Loud winds turn zephyrs to enlarge their notes,And each safe nest on a calm surface floats. Phil Robinson, in the Poets Birds, quotes thirtyequally idiotic effusions. But Shelley beats all records ;. KINGFISHERS 109 no Yankee blood-curdling yarn-spinner could equal him. Upon a drooping bough with nightshade twined,I saw two azure halcyons clinging downward,And thinning one bright branch of amber berriesWith quick long beaks, and in the deep there layThose lovely forms, imaged, as in a sky. Had he described a couple of kingfishers sitting on amerry-go-round, drinking ginger-pop and eating appletart, the poet would have been equally near the worst evil one can wish to a bird is for it to fallinto the clutches of the poet! Eighteen different kinds of kingfisher are found inIndia, and a group of birds more interesting to thebiologist does not exist. As we have seen, the white-breasted kingfisher affords striking evidence on behalfof the theory of organic evolution ; the group, however,prove no less conclusively, in my opinion, the insuffi-ciency of the theory of natural se
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirdsin, bookyear1906
