Ages elapsed ere Homer’s lamp appeared;
And ages ere the Mantua Swan was heard.
Cowper.
Ma´nucodia´ta, a bird resembling a swallow, found in the Molucca Islands. “It has no feet, and though the body is not bigger than that of a swallow, the span of its wings is equal to that of an eagle. These birds never approach the earth, but the female lays her eggs on the back of the male, and hatches them in her own breast. They live on the dew of heaven, and eat neither animal nor vegetable food.”—Cardan, De Rerum Varietate (1557).
Less pure the footless fowl of heaven, that never
Rest upon earth, but on the wing forever,
Hovering o’er flowers, their fragrant food inhale,
Drink the descending dew upon the way,
And sleep aloft while floating on the gale.
Southey, Curse of Kehama, xxi. 6 (1809).