Chapter XXXV: Book X: The Natural History of Birds (16)

[2768] These belong to the cetacea; which, as Cuvier says, are now universally placed among the mammifera, and not among the fishes. They couple, he says, in the same manner as quadrupeds do in general.

[2769] As Aristotle says, “from those that are left the fishes are produced.”

[2770] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 12.

[2771] It has been calculated, Cuvier says, that a female cod, or sturgeon, produces in a year more than one hundred thousand eggs.

[2772] Cuvier says, that the eggs of the common fishes, of toads, frogs, &c., have no shells, but only a membranous tunic; and when they have been once fecundated, they imbibe the surrounding moisture, and increase till they produce the animal.

[2773] It is probable, Cuvier thinks, that this passage relates more especially to the ray genus, but that there is no very positive knowledge as to the mode in which they do couple. It is probable, he suggests, that they may do it in the manner above mentioned, by the attrition of the belly. As to the turtle genus, he says, it is certain that the male mounts the back of the female; and in some species the sternum of the male is concave, the better to adapt itself to the convex callipash of the female.

[2774] More properly, the physeter, passage, or orifice.

[2775] Cuvier remarks, that this account of the coupling of the cephalopodes is taken from Aristotle. He says, that he is not aware whether modern observation has confirmed these statements, and almost doubts whether, considering the organization of these animals, it is not almost more probable that they do not couple at all, and that the male, as in the case of most other fishes, only fecundates the eggs after they have been deposited by the female.

[2776] Cuvier says, that whatever may be the sense in which the word “mollia” is here taken, the assertion is not correct. The gasteropod molluscs, he says, whether hermaphroditical, or whether of separate sexes, couple side to side. The acephalous molluscs do not couple at all, and each individual fecundates its own eggs. The crustacea couple by attrition of the belly.

[2777] “Tadpoles.” There is both truth and falsehood, Cuvier says, in the statements here made relative to the tadpole. Frogs, he says, produce eggs, from which the tadpole developes itself, with a tail like that of a fish. The feet, however, are not produced by any bifurcation of the tail, but shoot out at the base of the tail, and in the same proportion that they grow, the tail decreases, till at last it entirely disappears.

[2778] Frogs, Cuvier says, conceal themselves in mud and slime during the winter, but, of course, are not changed into it.

[2779] “Quæ fuere.” Just in the same state, he probably means to say, in which they were when they were melted into slime, and not as they were when in the tadpole state.

[2780] All that is asserted here, Cuvier says, about the spontaneous operations of nature is totally false. Everything connected with the eggs and the generation of the mussel, the murex, and the scallop is now clearly ascertained.

[2781] “Acescente humore.” Hardouin has suggested that the proper reading may be “arescente humore”—“from moisture dried up;” for, he remarks, Aristotle, in his Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 18, states, that the “empides,” gnats formed from the ascarides in the slime of wells, are more frequently produced in the autumn season.

[2782] The apuæ, or aphyæ, Cuvier says, are nothing else but the fry of fish of a large kind.

[2783] Cuvier says, that some of the shell-fish deposit their eggs upon stakes and piles, which are driven down into the water among sea-weed, and the bottoms of old ships: but that many of them perish from the solutions formed by those bodies in a state of rottenness, or, at all events, are not produced from their decomposition.

[2784] “Ostreariis.” This was unknown to Aristotle, who, in his work De Gener. Anim. B. iii. c. 11, expressly denies that the oyster secretes any generative or fecundating liquid.

[2785] Cuvier says, that at the time of the oyster spawning, its body appears swollen in some parts with a milky fluid, which is not improbably the fecundating fluid. During this season the oyster is generally looked upon as unfit for food; among us, from the beginning of May to the end of July.

[2786] This, Cuvier remarks, is a mere vague hypothesis, as to the reproduction of the eel, without the slightest foundation. Pliny borrows it from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 9.

[2787] The squatina and the ray do not interbreed, Cuvier observes, any more than other fish; and the Squatina raia, or rhinobatis, (which was said to be their joint production), is a particular species, more flat in form than the squalus, and longer than the ray.

[2788] Ῥινόβατος, “the squatinoraia.”

[2789] “Lupus.” The Perca labrax of Linnæus; see c. 28 of the present Book.

[2790] The sardine. See c. 20 of the present Book.

[2791] See c. 71 of the present Book.

[2792] This name, Cuvier says, appears so rarely in the ancient writers, that it is difficult to ascertain its exact signification. The moderns, he says, have pretty generally agreed to give it to the carp, but without any good and sufficient foundation. It was a lake or river fish, which, as Aristotle says, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 14, deposited its eggs five or six times in the year, and which had a palate so fleshy, that it might almost be mistaken for a tongue, B. iv. c. 8, characteristics that appear well suited to the carp. But then, on the other hand, Oppian mentions it, Halieut. B. i., as a shore fish, implying apparently that it belonged to the sea; and Pliny himself, in c. 25 of the present Book, does the same, by his words, “hoc et in mari accidere cyprino.” The words “in mari,” however, he has added, of his own accord, to the account which he has derived from Aristotle.

[2793] The fish called the sea-scorpion. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 11.

[2794] “Sola autumno, occasu Vergiliarum.” It seems questionable whether the reading should not be “solea:” “the sole in autumn, at the setting of the Vergiliæ.”

[2795] The Pleiades.

[2796] See c. 40 of the present Book.

[2797] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 11.

[2798] “Prosequitur afflatu.” Aristotle says that it pours over them its ink or atramentum, καταφυσᾷ τὸν θόλον.

[2799] Philostratus, Hist. B. v. c. 17, says that so full is it of eggs, that after it is dead they will more than fill a vessel far larger than the cavities of its head.

[2800] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14.

[2801] Our periwinkles.

[2802] All the chondropterygian fishes, Cuvier says, have, in addition to their ovaries, real oviducts, which the ordinary fishes have not; the lower part of which, being detached, acts as the uterus, into which the eggs descend when they have gained their proper size: and it is here that the young ones burst forth from the egg, when the parent animal is viviparous.

[2803] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 13, says the same of the glanis, or silurus.

[2804] The Syngnathus acus of Linnæus. This fish, Cuvier says, and in general all of the same genus, has a channel situate under the tail, which is opened by two moveable valves. In this they deposit their eggs at the moment of excluding them. After this, the valves open, to give a passage to the eggs, or the young enclosed in them. This circumstance, he says, gave rise to the notion mentioned in the text.

[2805] Mentioned in c. 35 of the present Book. Cuvier says that the sea tortoises, or turtles, to which no doubt this animal belonged, do deposit their eggs much in the way here mentioned.

[2806] Both these fishes have been mentioned in c. 23 of the present Book.

[2807] Pliny means to say, Cuvier says, that all these fish are to be looked upon as females: and, in fact, he says, Cavolini discovered eggs and a milt in every one that he examined; so that they appear to have all the appliances of self-fecundation.

[2808] Or wheel-fish: from the Greek τροχὸς, “a wheel.” It is not clearly known what animal he alludes to under this name. Snails, Cuvier says, are hermaphrodites, and so is the helix, but still they require sexual connection for the purposes of reproduction. The greater part of the marine uni-valves, on the other hand, are of separate sexes; but the organ of the male being proportionally of great length, and coiled in part beneath its mantle, this fact may very possibly have given rise to the notion here mentioned by our author, that the animal impregnates itself.

[2809] This can only be understood, Cuvier says, as applying to those animals the young of which are still enveloped in the membranes of the egg; for in general, the young of fish, from the moment of their birth, have eyes of great beauty, and are remarkable for the quickness of their sight.

[2810] From the Greek παυσίλυπον, “grief-assuaging.” This was the name of a splendid villa belonging to Vedius Pollio, and which he bequeathed to Augustus. It was famous for its fish preserves; and it was here probably that Pollio kept his murenæ, previously mentioned by Pliny as being fed on human flesh. The vicinity is still called Monte Posilipo.

[2811] “Cæsaris piscinis.” This may either mean, preserves which had their name from Cæsar, or preserves which afterwards belonged to Cæsar. The work of Seneca, in which this circumstance was mentioned, is no longer in existence.

[2812] He was a contemporary of L. Crassus, and was distinguished for his great wealth, and his love of luxury and refinement, but possessed an unblemished character. His surname, Orata or Aurata, was given to him, it is said, because he was remarkably fond of gold-fish—auratæ pisces—though, according to other authorities, it was because he was in the habit of wearing two very large gold rings.

[2813] “Pensiles balineas.” This expression has been differently rendered by various commentators, but it is now generally supposed to refer to the manner in which the flooring of the bathing rooms was suspended over the hollow cells of the hypocaust or heating furnace. This is called by Vitruvius, “Suspensura caldariorum.”

[2814] “Ita mangonicatas villas subinde vendendo.”—By the use of the word “ita,” Pliny may possibly mean that he was in the habit of filling up the villas with the “balineæ pensiles,” which he had invented. “Mangonizo” was to set off or trim up a thing, that it might sell again all the better.

[2815] Varro speaks of those of Tarentum, as being the best. The Greeks preferred the oysters of Abydos; the Romans, under the empire, those of Britain.

[2816] It does not appear to be known what two bridges are here alluded to; the Sublician, or wooden bridge, was probably one of them, and, perhaps, the Palatine bridge was the other. The former was built by Ancus Martius.

[2817] For some further account of the British oyster, see B. xxxii. c. 21.

[2818] See B. xxxii. c. 21.

[2819] He was the first of this family, a branch of the Licinian gens, who bore the surname of Murena, from his love for that fish, it was said. He, like his father P. Licinius, attained the rank of prætor, and was a contemporary of the orator, L. Crassus.

[2820] “Euripum.”

[2821] “Xerxen togatum,” or “the Roman Xerxes,” in allusion to Xerxes cutting a canal through the Isthmus, which connected the Peninsula of Mount Athos with Chalcidice. See B. iv. c. 17, and the Note, vol. i. p. 300.

[2822] Probably the same person as the C. Hirrius Posthumius, who is mentioned as a voluptuary by Cicero, De Fin. B. ii. c. 22, § 70. Varro speaks of him, as expending the rent of his houses, amounting to twelve millions of sesterces, in bait for his murenæ.

[2823] This is, probably, the meaning of “quadragies” here, though it has been translated 400,000.

[2824] See B. iii. c. 9.

[2825] Porphyry, Tzetzes, and Macrobius relate the same story.

[2826] See B. vii. c. 18, and B. xxxv. c. 36. Her grandson, Caligula, is supposed to have hastened her death.

[2827] Hirpinius is the more common reading. He is mentioned in B. viii. c. 78. If the reading “Lupinus” is adopted, nothing seems to be known of this epicurean trifler.

[2828] Our periwinkles.

[2829] See B. iii. c. 17.

[2830] Off the coast of Africa, see B. v. c. 1. These periwinkles, or sea-snails, are again mentioned in B. xxx. c. 15.

[2831] “Sapa.” Must, or new wine, boiled down to one half, according to Pliny; and one third, according to Varro.

[2832] The “quadrans” contained three cyathi, and was the fourth part of a sextarius, which consisted of about a pint and a-half; in which case the contents of one of their shells would be no less than fifteen quarts!! A statement to which no credit can be attached, unless, indeed, the sea-snail was something quite different to our periwinkle.

[2833] Cuvier remarks, that nothing is known of the fish of the Euphrates here mentioned by Pliny from Theophrastus; as, indeed, all particulars relative to the fresh-water fish of foreign countries are the portion of Ichthyology with which we are the least acquainted. Judging, however, from what is stated as to their habits and appearance, they may he various species of the genus Gobius of Linnæus, and more especially the one called periophthalmus by Bloch. These species are in the habit of crawling along the grass on the banks of rivers.

[2834] Generally considered the same as our gudgeon. It is called “cobio” (from the Greek κωβιὸς), by Pliny, in B. xxxii. c. 53. It was a worthless fish, “Vilis piscis,” as Juvenal says.

[2835] What Heraclea, if that is the correct reading, is meant here, it is impossible to say. Cromna is mentioned in B. vi. c. 2.

[2836] Cuvier thinks, that Pliny here alludes to a species of loche, the Cobitis fossilis of Linnæus, which keeps itself concealed in the mud, and can survive a long time in it, after the water above it is absorbed. Hence it is often found alive in the mud of drained marshes, or in the dried-up beds of rivers.

[2837] Cuvier remarks, that many fish, the orifice of the gills of which, like those of the eel, is small, or which have in the interior of those parts organs proper for the preservation there of water, are able, like the eel, to live for some time on dry land; such, for instance, as the periophthalmi previously mentioned, the chironectes, the ophicephali, the anabas, and others; but it is difficult to say, he observes, of what species were those of the Lycus, which are here mentioned.

[2838] Or turtle. See c. 12 of the present Book.

[2839] It is most probable that Sillig is right in his supposition, that “quam” should be read “æquam;” otherwise it does not appear that any sense can be made of the passage. Schneider, in his commentaries upon Theophrastus, Sillig says, quite despaired of either amending or explaining this passage; which, however, with Sillig’s emendation is very easily to be understood.

[2840] In accordance with the opinion of Vossius and Sillig, we read here “in illis,” instead of the common, and most probably incorrect, reading, “in nullis.”

[2841] Pomponius Mela, B. i. c. 9., and Ovid, Met. B. i. l. 422, _et seq._, tell the same story, which, however, has no truth in it whatever.

[2842] B. v. c. 35.

[2843] Oppian, Halieut. B. iii. c. 305, et seq., tells a similar story as to the mode of taking the anthias, with some slight variation, however.

[2844] “Damni formulam editam.”

[2845] Cuvier says, that the star-fish, the Asterias of Linnæus, is covered with a callous shell without, and has within only the viscera and the ovaria, apparently without any muscles. Aristotle reckons it among the fishes which he calls ὀστρακοδέρματα, or hard-shelled fish; while, on the other hand, Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xi. c. 22, reckons it among the μαλακόστρακα, or soft-shelled fish.

[2846] Cuvier says, that Pliny has good reason to say that he does not know upon what authority this power has been attributed to the star-fish; as it is altogether fabulous.

[2847] “Or finger.” The same fish that have been mentioned as “ungues,” or “onyches,” in c. 51 of the present Book. They are a multivalve shell-fish, Cuvier says, which live in hardened mud or the interior of rocks, into which they burrow cavities, from which they cannot retreat; and they can only be taken by breaking the stone. They have a flavour like pepper, and give out a phosphorescent light. See the end of c. 51.

[2848] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3. Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 48.

[2849] Aristotle says, that the tail of the conger is bitten by the murena, but not that of the murena by the conger. Hardouin suggests that Pliny may have learned this fact from the works of Nigidius Figulus.

[2850] Cuvier remarks, that in another passage, B. xi. c. 62, Pliny states that the “musculus qui balænam antecedit” has no teeth, but only bristles in its mouth. Now, in B. xxxii. c. 53, he speaks of the musculus as among the largest of animals; from which Cuvier concludes it to have been a species of whale, probably the “rorqual” of the Mediterranean. In confirmation of this, he thinks that the word “antecedit,” in B. xi. c. 62. has not the meaning of “goes before,” but “exceeds in size;” though here it is spoken of as leading the whale; and Oppian, Ælian, Plutarch, Claudian, speak of the conductor of the whale as a little fish. He is of opinion, in fine, that either Pliny or some of the authors from which he has borrowed, have made a mistake in the name, and probably given that of “musculus,” which was really a large fish, to a small one, which was commonly supposed to attend on the movements of the whale.

[2851] It is evident from this passage, that Pliny is speaking of a little fish here, and not one to which he would assign such bulk as is ascribed to the musculus in B. xxxii. c. 53.

[2852] See end of B. iii.

[2853] See end of B. vii.

[2854] Caius Cilnius Mecænas, or rather Mæcenas, a descendant of the kings of Etruria, and of equestrian rank. He was the favourite minister of Augustus, and the friend and patron of Horace, Virgil, and most of the more deserving among the learned of his day. He is supposed to have written two tragedies, the Prometheus and Octavia; an epic poem, and a work on Natural History, to which Pliny frequently alludes, and which seems to have related, principally, to fishes and gems. He is also thought to have written some memoirs of the life of Augustus.

[2855] A rhetorician, who flourished in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. His school was attended by the elder Seneca, who had then recently removed to Rome from Corduba. He was regarded at Rome as a prodigy of learning, and gave lectures before he had assumed the toga virilis. He is supposed to have written poetry, and a history of the Carthaginian wars.

[2856] See end of B. ii.

[2857] Or “writer of Mimes.” Laberius Decimus was of equestrian rank, born about B.C. 107, and died B.C. 43. Half compelled, and half induced by the offer of a reward by Cæsar, he appeared on the stage, in his old age, as an actor of mimes. A few verses, and a prologue still in existence, are attributed to him.

[2858] Fabianus Papirius. See end of B. ii.

[2859] See end of B. viii.

[2860] See end of B. ii.

[2861] L. Ælius Præconinus Stilo, a Roman of equestrian rank, one of the earliest grammarians, and also one of the most celebrated. He instructed Varro, and was one of Cæsar’s instructors in rhetoric. He received the name of Præconinus, from the circumstance of his father having been a “præco,” and that of Stilo, on account of his writings. He wrote commentaries on the songs of the Salii, and on the Twelve Tables, a work De Proloquiis, &c.

[2862] See end of B. ii.

[2863] See end of B. vii.

[2864] L. Annæus Seneca. See end of B. vi.

[2865] See end of B. vii.

[2866] A poet of Verona, who died B.C. 16, He wrote a poem upon birds, snakes, and medicinal plants, in imitation, probably, of the Theriaca of Nicander. There is a work, still extant, under his name, “On the Virtues of Herbs;” which, no doubt, belongs to the middle ages. He also wrote sixteen or more Books of Annals.

[2867] M. Valerius Messala Corvinus. He was born at Rome, B.C. 59. He joined the party of Cassius against Antony and Augustus, which last he defeated at the battle of Philippi. He afterwards served under Antony, and then Augustus; the centre of whose fleet he commanded at Actium. About two years before his death, which happened in the middle of the reign of Augustus, his memory failed him, and he was often unable to recollect his own name. He wrote a history, or rather, commentaries on the Civil wars after the death of Cæsar, and towards the close of his life composed a genealogical work “On the Families of Rome.” He also wrote poems of a satirical, and sometimes licentious character; and works on grammar, the titles of only two of which have come down to us. He was especially famous for his eloquence.

[2868] See end of B. viii.

[2869] See end of B. vi.

[2870] See end of B. ii.

[2871] See end of B. viii.

[2872] See end of B. iv.

[2873] See end of B. ii.

[2874] See end of B. iii.

[2875] See end of B. ii.

[2876] Nothing whatever is known of him.

[2877] See end of B. iii.

[2878] Cuvier remarks, that the accounts given by the ancients of birds, are enveloped in greater obscurity than their information on quadrupeds, or fishes. The quadrupeds, he says, are not so numerous, and are known from their characteristics. The fishes also, which the ancients so highly esteemed as an article of food, were well known to them in general, and they have repeated occasions to speak of them: but as to the birds, the augurs were their principal informants. Pliny, in fact, often quotes their testimony; and we find, from what he says, that these men had not come to any agreement among themselves as to what were the names of divers species of birds, the movements of which announced, according to them, the success or misfortune of states equally with individuals. This portion, in fact, of the works of Pliny, Cuvier remarks, is an excellent commentary on the remark of Cicero, who, an augur himself, asked the question, how two augurs could look each other in the face without laughing. There are also several passages from Aristotle, who has, however, given but very little attention to the exterior characteristics of birds: it is only from the similarity of their habits and present names that we are able, in many cases, to guess what bird it is that is meant.

[2879] “Struthiocamelus;” from the Greek, signifying a “little sparrow,” and a “camel.” Cuvier remarks, that Pliny’s description is correct, and that he is only mistaken in a few slight particulars.

[2880] Pliny perhaps here uses the conjunction “vel” in the explanatory sense of “otherwise;” intending to distinguish Æthiopian Africa from the Roman province of that name.

[2881] Cuvier remarks, that there is some truth in this, so far as that the ostrich has only two toes, like the stag and other ruminating animals; but then they are unequal in size, and not covered with hoofs.

[2882] Father Lobo, in his account of Abyssinia, says that when the ostrich is running at great speed, it throws the stones behind with such violence, that they would almost seem to be thrown at those in pursuit.

[2883] An ostrich, Cuvier says, will swallow anything, but it is by no means able to digest everything. He says, that he has seen ostriches with the stomach ruptured by nails which they have swallowed, or dreadfully torn by pieces of glass.

[2884] It has been remarked by Diodorus Siculus, B. ii., that so far from displaying stupidity in acting thus, it adopts a wise precaution, its head being its most weak and defenceless part.

[2885] Cuvier states that its egg is equal to twenty-four to twenty-eight fowls’ eggs, and that he had frequently eaten of them, and found them very delicate.

[2886] “Ferunt.” With regard to this verb, Cuvier remarks, that it is equivocal; and that it is very possible that the writer intends to say, not that India and Æthiopia _produce_ these marvellous birds, but that the people of those countries _report_ or _relate_ marvellous stories touching those birds. It is clear that he does not believe in the existence of the phœnix.

[2887] Cuvier remarks, that all these relations are neither more nor less than so many absurd fables or pure allegories, but that the description given is exactly that of a bird which does exist, the golden pheasant, namely. The description given is probably taken from the pretended phœnix that Pliny mentions as having been brought to Rome in the reign of Claudius. It is not improbable, he thinks, that this may have been a golden pheasant, brought from the interior of Asia, when the pursuits of commerce had as yet hardly extended so far, and to which those who showed it gave, most probably, the name of the phœnix. Ajasson is of opinion, that under the story of the phœnix an allegory was concealed, and thinks it may not improbably have been employed to pourtray the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Bailly, _Hist. de l’Astronomie_, thinks that it bore reference to the great canicular year of the Egyptians.

[2888] Borrowed from Herodotus, B. ii. c. 73.

[2889] The MSS. vary considerably as to the number. Some make it 540 years, others 511, others 40, and others 560.

[2890] Mentioned also, B. vii. c. 57.

[2891] 532 years, according to Hardouin. Bailly says: “The first men who studied the heavens remarked that the revolution of the sun brought back the seasons in the same order. They thought that they observed that certain variations of the temperature depended upon the aspect of the moon, and attached different prognostics to the rising and setting of the stars, persuading themselves that the vicissitudes of things here below had regulated periods, like the movements of the heavenly bodies. From this arose the impression, that the same aspect, the same arrangement of all the stars, that had prevailed at the commencement of the world, would also attend its destruction; and that the period of this long revolution was the predestined duration of the life of nature. Another impression was the idea that the world would only perish at this epoch to be born again, and for the same order of things to recommence with the same series of celestial phenomena. Some fixed this universal renovation at the conjunction of all the planets, others at the return of the stars to the same point of the ecliptic; others, uniting these two kinds of revolutions, marked the term of the duration of all things at the moment at which the planets and the stars would return to the same primitive situation with regard to the ecliptic, or in other words, they conceived an immense period, which would include one or more complete revolutions of each of the planets. All these periods were called the ‘great year,’ or the ‘great revolution.’” _Histoire de l’Astronomie Ancienne._

[2892] A.U.C. 657.

[2893] A.U.C. 789.

[2894] A public place in the Forum, where the comitia curiata were held, and certain offences tried and punished.

[2895] Cuvier remarks, that this passage is borrowed, with some changes, from Aristotle’s “History of Animals,” B. ix. c. 32, but that the account given by Pliny is not very easily explained, from the fact that the word _eagle_ is not used by him in a rigorous acceptation of the word. Indeed it is only at the present day that any accurate knowledge has been obtained as to the different species of eagles, and the changes of colour to which they are subject with the advance of age; circumstances which have caused the species of them to be multiplied by naturalists. It is very doubtful, he says, whether Aristotle has distinguished the various kinds any better than Pliny; although Buffon, who himself was not very successful in distinguishing them, says that Aristotle understood more on the subject than the moderns.

[2896] Μελανάετος, or the “black eagle.” Cuvier says, that this description is copied exactly from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 32. This eagle, he says, cannot be, as is commonly supposed, the “common eagle.” It can only be, he thinks, the “small” eagle, the female of which, according to Nauman and Savigny, when it is old is almost all black, and without spots; only the young being spotted.

[2897] From the Greek πυγὴ ἀργὴ, “white tail.” Cuvier remarks, that this is copied exactly from Aristotle, except that he says nothing about the whiteness of the tail, which is an interpolation. The feathers as described agree with those of the common eagle, the Falco fulvus, which is strong enough to seize a fawn. As regards its habit, he says, of dwelling on plains, that would agree better with the Jean le blanc of the French, the Falco Gallicus; while the name of pygargus is commonly applied, at the present day, to the great sea-eagle, the Falco albicilla; which frequents lakes and the sea-shore, and therefore corresponds more nearly with the haliætus of Pliny.

[2898] Cuvier says, that he is almost tempted to believe that it is the balbusard, the Falco haliætus, that is here meant, as it has a black back, and lives in the vicinity of lakes. But then, he remarks, it lives on fish and not aquatic birds; while, on the other hand, the little eagle of Buffon, the Falco nævio, often seizes ducks and other aquatic animals. He is inclined then, notwithstanding the apparent confusion, to take this morphnos for the modern small eagle. The words μορφνὸς and περκνὸς signify “black.”

[2899] From the Greek, meaning “black wing.”

[2900] “Mountain stork.” Buffon thinks that this is the great brown vulture; Cuvier, the great white-headed eagle.

[2901] Γνήσιος. “True-born,” “genuine.” Cuvier thinks that this may be the royal or imperial eagle, Falco imperialis.

[2902] The great sea-eagle, according to Cuvier, the varieties of which (in age) are called by Linnæus “Falco albicaudus,” and “Falco ossifraga.”

[2903] See Lucan, B. ix. l. 902.

[2904] He contradicts himself, for he has already stated that it is the sixth species.

[2905] “Barbata.” Cuvier takes it to be the læmmer-geyer, or Gypaëtus, the only bird of prey that has a beard.

[2906] Or eagle-stone. See B. xxxvi. c. 39. He does not there mention that it is combustible. It is not impossible that pieces of aëtites, or ferruginous geodes, may have been found in an eagle’s nest.

[2907] Fora.

[2908] Albertus Magnus says that he knows this by actual experience: “credat Judæus.”

[2909] Ordinem.

[2910] See Virgil, Æn. B. xi. l. 755, _et seq._ By the “dragon,” he means some large serpent.

[2911] “Heroum.”

[2912] The great European vulture.

[2913] Their nests are seldom seen, in consequence of being concealed in the crags of the highest mountains, the Pyrenees, for instance.

[2914] “Three” seems a better reading. Aristotle says “two.”

[2915] Ovid, in his “Art of Love,” speaks of the use of eggs in purifications made by lovesick damsels. See B. ii. l. 330.

[2916] This story arises from the extreme acuteness of their power of smelling a dead body. The Egyptians said that the vulture foreknows the field of battle seven days.

[2917] Festus says, also, that it is the ossifrage, and was so called from the god Sancus.

[2918] Aristotle says ten.

[2919] A mere fable. Cuvier says that the ægithus of Aristotle was probably a kind of sparrow.

[2920] Said to be three in number; a mere fable. The buzzard probably is meant.

[2921] The family of the Buteones belonged to the gens Fabia.

[2922] Cuvier thinks that he means to identify this kind with the triorchis, of which Aristotle says that it is to be seen at all seasons.

[2923] See B. vi. c. 36.

[2924] Cuvier remarks, that we here find the art of falconry in its rough state. It was restored to Europe, no doubt, by the Crusaders. See Beckmann’s Hist. Inventions, vol. i. p. 201. _Bohn’s Edition._

[2925] “Missas in sublime sibi excipere eos.” The meaning is very doubtful.

[2926] The whole of this passage is, most probably, a gloss or interpolation.

[2927] This is denied by Albertus Magnus.

[2928] Cuvier remarks, that Pliny has erroneously joined the account given by Aristotle of the cybindis, to that of the hybris, or ptynx. He takes the cybindis to be the “Strix Uralensis” of Pallas.

[2929] Cuvier says, that this notion is still entertained by the French peasantry.

[2930] This is not the case. It only lays in the nests of insectivorous birds.

[2931] Cuvier remarks, that this is not a very good reason; but we have not yet been able to find a better.

[2932] Cuvier denies this story, but says, that when the foster-mother is a very small bird, the young cuckoo will take the whole of her head in his beak when receiving food.

[2933] “Curse on your ill-betiding croak.” See “The Farmer’s Wife and the Raven,” in Gay’s Fables.

[2934] Aristotle says, that it was never to be seen in the Acropolis or Citadel of Athens.

[2935] Only the case with the large raven, or Corvus corax of Linnæus, the others living in flocks.

[2936] Doé says, that this is incorrect; the beak of the raven not being of a similar form to that of the pigeon.

[2937] Or else, “The Median guests.” It is not known to what he alludes. Alexander ab Alexandro says, that both Alexander the Great and Cicero were warned of their deaths by the raven.

[2938] “Noctua, bubo, ulula.” It is very doubtful what birds are meant by these names. Cuvier has been at some pains to identify them, and concludes that the noctua, or glaux of Aristotle, is the Strix brachyotas of Linnæus, the “short-eared screech-owl;” the bubo, the Strix bubo of Linnæus, and the ulula, the Strix aluco of Linnæus; our madgehowlet, grey or brown owl.

[2939] Seventh of March. The year of their consulship is not known.

[2940] Cuvier suggests, that it may be the coracias of Aristotle, our jackdaw probably, the Corvus graculus of Linnæus. It has been said, that in its admiration of shining objects, it will take up a burning coal; a trick which has before now caused conflagrations. Servius speaks of it as frequenting funeral piles.

[2941] A.U.C. 647.

[2942] “Spinturnix” and “clivia” were names given by the augurs probably to some kinds of birds.

[2943] Cuvier ridicules the excessive ignorance of the augurs. It is with the beak that the young bird breaks the shell.

[2944] See B. xxv. c. 5.

[2945] Picus, the son of Saturn, king of Latium. He was skilled in augury, and was said to have been changed into a woodpecker. See Ovid, Met. B. xiv. l. 314.; Virgil, Æn. B. vii. c. 187. See also Ovid, Fasti, B. iii. l. 37.

[2946] Valerius Maximus, B. v. c. 6, says, that seventeen members of this family fell at the battle of Cannæ.

[2947] “Oscines” and “alites.” This was a distinction made by the augurs, but otherwise of little utility, as all the birds with a note fly as well.

[2948] See the story of the eyes of Argus transferred to the peacock’s tail. Ovid, Met. B. i. l. 616.

[2949] It would be curious to know how the goose manifests its modesty, or “verecundia.” We are equally at a loss with Pliny to discover it.

[2950] Tribune of the people, B.C. 61. He was maternal grandfather of the Empress Livia. “Lurco” means a “glutton.”

[2951] About 12,270 francs, Ajasson says.

[2952] See B. viii. c. 19.

[2953] Possibly Media; Varro says, “Medicos.”

[2954] “Tripudia solistima.” An omen derived from the feeding of the fowls, when they devoured their food with such avidity, that it fell from their mouths and rebounded from the ground.

[2955] By the auspices which they afforded.

[2956] Mentioned by Cicero, De Divin. B. i.

[2957] The same too at Athens, in one of the theatres, in remembrance, Ælian says, of the victory gained by Themistocles over the Persians.

[2958] A.U.C. 676.

[2959] When the Capitol was besieged by the Gauls.

[2960] Near Patræ, in Achaia. Ælian gives his name as Amphilochus.

[2961] A singular quality in a goose. Ælian says, that Lacydes was a peripatetic philosopher, and that he honoured the goose with splendid obsequies, when it died.

[2962] See B. viii. c. 77. Horace also mentions that they were fattened with figs.

[2963] “Lacte mulso.” Perhaps honey, wine, and milk.

[2964] In Gaul. See B. iv. c. 31.

[2965] “Gans” is still the German name. Hence our word “gander.”

[2966] This medicament is further treated of in B. xxix. c. 13.

[2967] “The Commagenian mixture.” For Commagene, see B. v. cc. 13 and 20.

[2968] The “goose-fox,” so called, according to Ælian, for its cunning and mischievous qualities; and worshipped by the Egyptians for its affection for its young. It is supposed by Cuvier to be the Anas Ægyptiaca of Buffon.

[2969] The Anas clypeata of Buffon, according to Cuvier.

[2970] The Tetrao tetrix of Linnæus, or heathcock.

[2971] The Tetrao urogallus of Linnæus, according to Cuvier.

[2972] The Otis tarda of Linnæus. Cuvier says, that it is not the case that they are bad eating, and remarks that birds have _no_ marrow in the larger bones.

[2973] Doé thinks that the spinal marrow is meant.

[2974] B. iv. c. 18, and B. vii. c. 2.

[2975] In B. vii. c. 2, Pliny speaks of the Pygmies as living to the far East of India.

[2976] See B. iv. cc. 20 and 26; and B. vi. c. 2.

[2977] The “village of the Python,” or “serpent.” Gueroult suggests that this may he Serponouwtzi, beyond the river Oby, in Siberia.

[2978] Thirteenth of August.

[2979] M. Mauduit has a learned discussion in Panckouke’s Translation, vol. viii., many pages in length; in which he satisfactorily shows that this is not entirely fabulous, but that the wild swan of the northern climates really is possessed of a tuneful note or cadence. Of course, the statement that it only sings just before its death, must be rejected as fabulous.

[2980] The “mother of the quails.” Frederic II., in his work, De Arte Venandi, calls the “rallus,” or “rail,” the “leader of the quails.”

[2981] From γλωττὰ, “a tongue.” It is not known what bird is alluded to.

[2982] Bellon thinks that this is the _proyer_, or _prayer_, of the French; Aldrovandus considers it to be the ortolan.

[2983] Gesner suggests from “asinus,” an “ass;” its feathers sticking up like the ears of that animal. Dalechamps thinks it is because its voice resembles the braying of an ass; the name “otus” is from the Greek for “ear.”

[2984] Either hemlock or hellebore.

[2985] “Despui suetum.” See B. xxviii. c. 7. As Hardouin says, in modern times they are considered delicate eating; but Schenkius, Obsers. Med. B. i., states, that if the bird has eaten hellebore, epilepsy is the consequence to the person who partakes of its flesh.

[2986] See B. iv. c. 18.

[2987] A friend of Augustus, sent by him with proposals to Antony, B.C. 41.

[2988] The colour of the “factio,” or “party” of charioteers. See p. 217.

[2989] Galgulus.

[2990] Cuvier suggests, that these birds may have been the Tringa pugnax of Linnæus and Buffon, the males of which engage in most bloody combats with each other on the banks of rivers, in spring.

[2991] No doubt, as Cuvier says, this was the Numida meleagris of Linnæus, Guinea hen, or pintada. Cuvier remarks that they are very pugnacious birds.

[2992] See B. v. c. 22.

[2993] Cuvier suggests, that these birds may have been of the starling genus, perhaps the Tardus roseus of Linnæus.

[2994] The “hunter of flies.”

[2995] Suetonius says, that when Tiberius was staying at Rhodes, an eagle perched on the roof of his house; such a bird having never been seen before on the island.

[2996] See B. iii. c. 21.

[2997] It is still noted for its thieving propensities; witness the English story of the Maid and the Magpie, and the Italian opera of “La Gazza Ladra.” Cicero says, “They would no more trust gold with you, than with a jackdaw.” See also Ovid’s Met. B. vii. It is the Corvus pica of Linnæus.

[2998] “Mottled pies.”

[2999] See B. iv. c. 12.

[3000] Asia Minor, most probably. The assertion, though supported by Theophrastus, is open to doubt.

[3001] See B. viii. c. 83.

[3002] It was the nightingale that was said to be “Vox et præterea nihil;” “A voice, and nothing else.”

[3003] As there may be different opinions on the meaning of the various parts of this passage, it is as well to transcribe it for the benefit of the reader, the more especially as, contrary to his usual practice, Pliny is here in a particularly discursive mood. “Nunc continuo spiritu trahitur in longum, nunc variatur inflexo, nunc distinguitur conciso, copulatur intorto, promittitur revocato, infuscatur ex inopinato, interdum et secum ipse murmurat, plenus, gravis, acutus, creber, extentus; ubi visum est, vibrans, summus, medius, imus.”

[3004] 1227 francs, Ajasson says.

[3005] Something very similar to this, we often see practised by the water-warblers in our streets.

[3006] Cuvier supposes that this is one of the fly-catchers; the “Muscicapa atricapilla” of Linnæus, which changes in appearance entirely after the breeding season.

[3007] The “black-head.”

[3008] Cuvier thinks that this is the wall nightingale, the Motacilla phœnicurus of Linnæus, which is not seen in winter. On the other hand, the Motacilla rubecula of Linnæus, or red-throat, is only seen during the winter, and being like the other bird, may have been taken for it, and named “phœnicurus.”

[3009] This is not the case. Aristotle only says that it builds its nest of human ordure; a story probably without any foundation, but still prevalent among the French peasantry.

[3010] It has not been identified with precision. Pliny, B. xviii. c. 69 calls it a small bird. Some make it the popinjay; others, with more probability, the lapwing. Horace, B. iii. Ode 27, mentions it as the parra, a bird of ill omen.

[3011] The Oriolus luteus, or witwall, according to Linnæus.

[3012] White blackbirds (if we may employ the paradox) are a distinct variety, according to Cuvier, to be found in various countries, though but rarely.

[3013] This is from Herodotus, but it is incorrect. The black, or rather green ibis, Cuvier says, the Scolopax falcinellus of Linnæus, is found not only near Pelusium, but all over the south of Europe.

[3014] He alludes to the nightingale, mentioned in c. 43.

[3015] The king-fisher, or Alcedo ispida of Linnæus. There is no truth whatever in this favourite story of the ancients.

[3016] In copying from Aristotle, he has put “collum,” by mistake, for “rostrum,” the “beak.”

[3017] This bird in reality builds no nest, but lays its eggs in holes on the water side. The objects taken for its nest are a zoophyte called _halcyonium_ by Linnæus, as Cuvier informs us, and similar in shape to a nest.

[3018] Or didapper.

[3019] The first is the common chimney swallow. This latter one, Cuvier says, is either the window swallow, the Hirundo urbica of Linnæus, or else the martinet, the Hirundo apus of Linnæus.

[3020] The bank swallow, or Hirundo riparia of Linnæus.

[3021] Cuvier thinks that this is either the _remiz_, the Parus pendulinus of Linnæus, or else the moustache, the Parus biarmicus of Linnæus.

[3022] Not moss, Cuvier says, but blades of grass, and the silken fibres of the poplar and other aquatic trees.

[3023] Cuvier thinks that it is the same bird as the vitiparra of Pliny.

[3024] Galgulus.

[3025] This story, in all its extravagance, is related first by Herodotus, and then by Aristotle, who has reduced it to its present dimensions, as given by Pliny.

[3026] Cuvier suggests that, if at all based upon truth, this may have been the case in one instance, and then ascribed to the whole species.

[3027] The Merops apiaster of Linnæus, or bee-eater.

[3028] Cuvier says that the red partridge, the Tetrao rufus of Linnæus, is meant.

[3029] The same wonderful story is told by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 5, and by Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 15.

[3030] “Metu.” Aristotle says, by sexual passion. The reading is probably corrupt here.

[3031] See B. xviii. c. 68; where he says that the summer solstice is past at the time of the incubation.

[3032] Cuvier takes this to be the kestril, or Falco tinnunculus of Linnæus, and considers it to be synonymous with the cenchris, mentioned in c. 73, and in B. xxix. c. 6, though Pliny does not seem to be aware of the identity.

[3033] Hirtius and Pansa. Frontinus, B. iii. c. 13. says that pigeons were sent by Hirtius to Brutus. At the present day, letters are sent fastened under their wings.

[3034] B. iii. c. 7.

[3035] “Without feet.” This was supposed to be the case with the martinet, the Hirundo apus of Linnæus.

[3036] Or “goat-sucker.” The Caprimulgus Europæus of Linnæus.

[3037] Cuvier says that this is the spoon-bill, the Platalea leucorodea of Linnæus. Some suppose it to be the bittern.

[3038] By nestling in the dust. Throwing dust over the body was one of the ancient modes of purification.

[3039] “Lustrant,” “perform a lustration.” This was done by the Romans with a branch of laurel or olive, and sometimes bean-stalks were used.

[3040] The linnet, probably.

[3041] The “bull.” This cannot possibly be the bittern, as some have suggested, for that is a large bird.

[3042] Supposed to be the Motacilla flava of Linnæus, the spring wagtail.

[3043] Hence the Latin name “psittacus.” From this, Cuvier thinks that the first known among these birds to the Greeks and Romans, was the green perroquet with a ringed neck, the Psittacus Alexandri of Linnæus.

[3044] Cuvier says that this is the jay, the Corvus glandarius of Linnæus; but that they are not more apt at speaking than the other kinds.

[3045] Cuvier remarks, that these can only be monstrosities.

[3046] Britannicus, the son of Claudius, and Nero, his stepson.

[3047] In the eighth region of the city.

[3048] The nephew and son of Tiberius.

[3049] Festus says that the “fane of Rediculus was without the Porta Capena; it was so called because Hannibal, when on the march from Capua, turned back (redierit) at that spot, being alarmed at certain portentous visions.”

[3050] P. Cornelius Scipio Æmilianus Africanus Minor, the younger son of L. Æmilius Paulus, the conqueror of Macedonia. It is doubtful whether he died a natural death, or was privately assassinated by the partisans of the Gracchi. His wife, Cornelia, and his mother, Sempronia, were suspected by some persons.

[3051] 28th March.

[3052] One would hardly think that there was anything wonderful in a crow being _very_ black.

[3053] The “one-horned.”

[3054] Most probably in Asia Minor, and not Eriza in India.

[3055] Cuvier is inclined to think that the Anas tadorna approaches most nearly the description given here. From Ovid’s description of their hard and pointed bills and claws, it would appear that a petrel (Procellaria), or else a white heron (Ardea garzetta), is intended; but these birds, he remarks, do not make holes in the earth. Linnæus has given the name of Diomedea exulans to the albatross, a bird of the Antarctic seas, which cannot have been known to the ancients.

[3056] B. iii. c. 29.

[3057] See Ovid’s Met. B. xiii.

[3058] Albertus Magnus says that swallows _can_ be tamed.

[3059] The Fulica porphyrio of Linnæus, the Poule sultane of Buffon.

[3060] Literally, “the blood-red foot.” Cuvier says that this description may apply to the sea-pie or oyster-eater, the Hæmatopus ostralegus of Linnæus, or else the long-legged plover, the Charadrius himantopus of Linnæus, but most probably the latter, more especially if the reading here is “himantopus,” as some editions have it.

[3061] “Muscæ,” “flies,” is a mistake of the copyists, Cuvier thinks, for “musculi,” “mussels.”

[3062] More especially the Larus parasiticus, Cuvier says.

[3063] Dalechamps thinks that this story bears reference to the chatterer (the Ampelis garrulus of Linnæus), the ends of certain feathers of the wings being extended, and of a vermilion colour: but Cuvier looks upon Pliny’s account as almost nothing more than a poetical exaggeration.

[3064] A species of duck, Cuvier thinks. from Aristophanes we learn that they were common in the markets of Athens. Cuvier suggests that it may, have been the Anas galericulata of Linnæus, the Chinese teal, which the Parthians may have received from the countries lying to the east of them.

[3065] “Phasiana,” so called from the river Phasis.

[3066] A variety of the guinea fowl; probably the Numida Meleagris of Linnæus.

[3067] Literally, the “red-wing.” The modern flamingo.

[3068] Buffon thinks that this is the grouse of the English, the Tetrao Scoticus of the naturalists; but Cuvier is of opinion that it is either the common wood-cock, the Tetrao bonasia of Linnæus, or else the wood-cock with pointed tail, of the south of Europe, the Tetrao alchata of Linnæus, most probably the latter, as the male has black and blue spots on the back; a fact which may explain the joke in the “Birds” of Aristophanes, where a run-away slave who has been marked with stripes, is called an attagen. By some it is called the “red-headed hazel-hen.”

[3069] In allusion, perhaps, to the words of Horace, Epod. ii. 54.

Non attagen Ionicus
Jucundior, quam lecta de pinguissimis
Oliva ramis arborum.

[3070] Literally, the “bald crow.” Pliny, B. xi. c. 47, says that it is an aquatic bird: and naturalists generally identify it with the cormorant, the Pelecanus carbo of Linnæus.

[3071] Literally, the red crow, the chocard of the Alps, the Corvus pyrrhocorax of Linnæus.

[3072] The “hare’s foot.” Identical with the snow partridge, the Tetrao lagopus of Linnæus; it is white in winter.

[3073] The same bird, Cuvier says, as seen in summer, being then of a saffron colour, with blackish spots.

[3074] Cuvier remarks, that the green courlis, the Scolopax falcinellus of Linnæus, which is not improbably the real ibis of the ancients, is by no means uncommon in Italy.

[3075] “Novæ aves.” The grey partridge, Hardouin thinks.

[3076] Flamingo.

[3077] See B. xi. c. 44.

[3078] Scythia and Æthiopia ought to be transposed here, as the griffons were said to be monsters that guarded the gold in the mountains of Scythia, the Uralian chain, probably.

[3079] Literally, the “goat Pan.” Cuvier thinks that the bird here alluded to actually existed, and identifies it with the napaul, or horned pheasant of Buffon, the penelope satyra of Gmell, a bird of the north of India, and which answers the description here given by Pliny.

[3080] See Ovid, Met. B. v. l. 553.

[3081] A kind of crested lark.

[3082] The Strix scops, probably, of Linn. See the Odyssey, B. v. l. 66.

[3083] Those called Orchia, Didia, Oppia, Cornelia, Antia, and Julia namely.

[3084] Repositoria. See B. xxxiii. c. 49. See also B. ix. c. 13.

[3085] Valerius Maximus, B. ix. c. 1, tells this story of the profligate son of Æsopus.

[3086] B. ix. c. 59.

[3087] “Hominum linguas,” Pliny says; a singularly inappropriate expression, it would appear.

[3088] See B. viii. c. 37.

[3089] The tinnunculus, probably, of c. 52.

[3090] B. ii. Sat. 4, l. 12. “Longa quibus facies ovis erit, ille memento. Ut succi melioris, et ut magis alba rotundis.”

[3091] Aristotle says just the reverse: but Hardouin thinks that the passage in Aristotle has been corrupted.

[3092] This, Cuvier says, in reality is not the umbilical cord, but the _chalasis_, a little transparent and gelatinous ligament, by which the yolk is suspended like a globe. The true umbilical cord of the bird only makes its appearance after an incubation of some days.

[3093] Produced in the territory of Adria. See B. iii. c. 18.

[3094] Cuvier says, that after an egg has been set upon for some days, the heart of the chicken may be seen like a small red speck, that palpitates; but that no such thing is to be seen before incubation.

[3095] Cuvier remarks, that the chicken is not formed exclusively from the white, and that the yellow is gradually displaced by it, as the chicken increases in size.

[3096] Cuvier tells us, that in the Memoirs of the Academy of St. Petersburgh, there is a memoir by Wolf, entitled _Ovum simplex gemelliferum_, in which these twin chickens are described with great exactness.

[3097] More generally eleven or thirteen in this country.

[3098] To secure their being more equably covered.