Halcyon If you wonder why the name HALCYON was chosen for my Boxer Dogs, here is the legend of the Halcyon Bird, Webster's Definition of the term, links to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, and a Hypertext Gateway Webster Lookup for other words, if you're curious. I love the sea, and I thought that with a Boxer's exuberance, enthusiasm, and energy; a little calm was in order, so that is why I chose the peaceful sound of Halcyon. The term is also often used to describe the "good old days."

OK, I know it's a Seagull, but it's difficult to get a picture of a legend!

The Legend of the Halcyon: The Halcyon is a fictitious seabird with webbed feet and a saw bill. The halcyon produces its young on the shore, depositing its eggs in the sand, around midwinter. It chooses as the time to hatch its young, the period when the sea is at its highest and the waves break more fiercely than usual on the shore; with the result that the grace with which this bird is endowed shines forth even more, with the dignity of an unexpected calm. For it is a fact, that once the halcyon's eggs have been laid, the raging sea suddenly becomes gentle, all the stormy winds subside, the strong breezes lighten, and as the wind drops, the sea lies calm, until the halcyon hatches its eggs. The eggs take seven days to hatch, at the end of which the halcyon takes a further seven days to feed its chicks until they begin to grow into young birds. Such a short growing time is nothing to marvel at, since the completion of the hatching process takes so few days. This little bird is endowed by God with such grace that sailors know with confidence that these fourteen days will be days of fine weather and call them 'the halcyon days', in which there will be no period of stormy weather.

Definition for Halcyon (from Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (c)1983) Noun: 1. A bird identified with the kingfisher and held in ancient legend to nest at sea about the time of the winter solstice and to calm the waves during incubation. 2. Kingfisher Adjective: 1. of or relating to the halcyon or its nesting period. 2. a. calm, peaceful; b. happy, golden; c. prosperous, affluent. Definition for Halcyon from database web1913 (web1913) Halcyon \Hal"cy*on\, n. [L. halcyon, alcyon, Gr.?: F. halcyon.] (Zool.) A kingfisher. By modern ornithologists restricted to a genus including a limited number of species having omnivorous habits, as the sacred kingfisher (Halcyon sancta) of Australia.

Halcyon \Hal"cy*on\, a. 1. Pertaining to, or resembling, the halcyon, which was anciently said to lay her eggs in nests on or near the sea during the calm weather about the winter solstice. 2. Hence: Calm; quiet; peaceful; undisturbed; happy. ``Deep, halcyon repose.'' --De Quincy. Amidst our arms as quiet you shall be as halcyons brooding on a winter sea. --Dryden.

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