Book X. The Natural History of Birds.

Chaps. 1-11.

Chap. 1. (1.)—The Ostrich.

The history of the birds [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.] follows next, the very largest of which, and indeed almost approaching to the nature of quadrupeds, is the ostrich [“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.] of Africa or [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.] Æthiopia. This bird exceeds in height a man sitting on horseback, and can surpass him in swiftness, as wings have been given to aid it in running; in other respects ostriches cannot be considered as birds, and do not raise themselves from the earth. They have cloven talons, very similar to the hoof [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.] of the stag; with these they fight, and they also employ them in seizing stones for the purpose of throwing [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.] at those who pursue them. They have the marvellous property of being able to digest [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.] every substance without distinction, but their stupidity [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.] is no less remarkable; for although the rest of their body is so large, they imagine, when they have thrust their head and neck into a bush, that the whole of the body is concealed. Their eggs [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.] are prized on account of their large size, and are employed as vessels for certain purposes, while the feathers of the wing and tail are used as ornaments for the crest and helmet of the warrior.

Chap. 2. (2.)—The Phœnix.

Æthiopia and India, more especially, produce [“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.] birds of diversified plumage, and such as quite surpass all description. In the front rank of these is the phœnix, [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.] that famous bird of Arabia; though I am not quite sure that its existence is not all a fable. It is said that there is only one in existence in the whole world, and that that one has not been seen very often. We are told that this bird is of the size of an eagle, [Borrowed from Herodotus, B. ii. c. 73.] and has a brilliant golden plumage around the neck, while the rest of the body is of a purple colour; except the tail, which is azure, with long feathers intermingled of a roseate hue; the throat is adorned with a crest, and the head with a tuft of feathers. The first Roman who described this bird, and who has done so with the greatest exactness, was the senator Manilius, so famous for his learning; which he owed, too, to the instructions of no teacher. He tells us that no person has ever seen this bird eat, that in Arabia it is looked upon as sacred to the sun, that it lives five hundred and forty years, [The MSS. vary considerably as to the number. Some make it 540 years, others 511, others 40, and others 560.] that when it becomes old it builds a nest of cassia and sprigs of incense, which it fills with perfumes, and then lays its body down upon them to die; that from its bones and marrow there springs at first a sort of small worm, which in time changes into a little bird: that the first thing that it does is to perform the obsequies of its predecessor, and to carry the nest entire to the city of the Sun near Panchaia, [Mentioned also, B. vii. c. 57.] and there deposit it upon the altar of that divinity.

The same Manilius states also, that the revolution of the great year [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.] is completed with the life of this bird, and that then a new cycle comes round again with the same characteristics as the former one, in the seasons and the appearance of the stars; and he says that this begins about mid-day of the day on which the sun enters the sign of Aries. He also tells us that when he wrote to the above effect, in the consulship [A.U.C. 657.] of P. Licinius and Cneius Cornelius, it was the two hundred and fifteenth year of the said revolution. Cornelius Valerianus says that the phœnix took its flight from Arabia into Egypt in the consulship [A.U.C. 789.] of Q. Plautius and Sextus Papinius. This bird was brought to Rome in the censorship of the Emperor Claudius, being the year from the building of the City, 800, and it was exposed to public view in the Comitium. [A public place in the Forum, where the comitia curiata were held, and certain offences tried and punished.] This fact is attested by the public Annals, but there is no one that doubts that it was a fictitious phœnix only.

Chap. 3. (3.)—The Different Kinds of Eagles.

Of all the birds with which we are acquainted, the eagle is looked upon as the most noble, and the most remarkable for its strength. There are six [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.] different kinds; the one called “melanaetos” [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.] by the Greeks, and “valeria” in our language, the least in size of them all, but the most remarkable for its strength, is of a blackish colour. It is the only one among all the eagles that feeds its young; for the others, as we shall mention just now, drive them away; it is the only one too that has neither cry nor murmur; it is an inhabitant of the mountains. The second kind is the pygargus, [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.] an inhabitant of the cities and plains, and distinguished by the whiteness of its tail. The third is the morphnos, [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.”] which Homer also calls the “percnos,” while others, again, call it the “plangus” and the “anataria;” it is the second in size and strength, and dwells in the vicinity of lakes. Phemonoë, who was styled the “daughter of Apollo,” has stated that this eagle has teeth, but that it has neither voice nor tongue; she says also that it is the blackest of all the eagles, and has a longer tail than the rest; Bœus is of the same opinion. This eagle has the instinct to break the shell of the tortoise by letting it fall from aloft, a circumstance which caused the death of the poet Æschylus. An oracle, it is said, had predicted his death on that day by the fall of a house, upon which he took the precaution of trusting himself only under the canopy of the heavens.

The fourth kind of eagle is the “percnopterus,” [From the Greek, meaning “black wing.”] also called the “oripelargus;” [“Mountain stork.” Buffon thinks that this is the great brown vulture; Cuvier, the great white-headed eagle.] it has much the appearance of the vulture, with remarkably small wings, while the rest of the body is larger than the others; but it is of a timid and degenerate nature, so much so, that even a raven can beat it. It is always famishing and ravenous, and has a plaintive murmuring cry. It is the only one among the eagles that will carry off the dead carcase; the others settle on the spot where they have killed their prey. The character of this species causes the fifth one to be known by the distinctive name of “gnesios,” [Γνήσιος. “True-born,” “genuine.” Cuvier thinks that this may be the royal or imperial eagle, Falco imperialis.] as being the genuine eagle, and the only one of untainted lineage; it is of moderate size, of rather reddish colour, and rarely to be met with. The haliætus [The great sea-eagle, according to Cuvier, the varieties of which (in age) are called by Linnæus “Falco albicaudus,” and “Falco ossifraga.”] is the last, and is remarkable for its bright and piercing eye. It poises itself aloft, and the moment it catches sight of a fish in the sea below, pounces headlong upon it, and cleaving the water with its breast, carries off its prey.

The eagle which we have mentioned as forming the third species, pursues the aquatic birds in the vicinity of standing waters: in order to make their escape they plunge into the water every now and then, until at length they are overtaken by lassitude and sleep, upon which the eagle immediately seizes them. The contest that takes place is really a sight worthy to be seen. The bird makes for the shore to seek a refuge, and especially if there should happen to be a bed of reeds there; while in the meantime the eagle endeavours to drive it away with repeated blows of its wings, and tumbles into the water in its attempts to seize it. While it is standing on the shore its shadow is seen by the bird, which immediately dives beneath, and then making its way in an opposite direction, emerges at some point at which it thinks it is the least likely to be looked for. This is the reason why these birds swim in flocks, for when in large numbers they are in no danger from the enemy; as by dashing up the spray with their wings they blind him.

Again, it often happens that the eagle is not able to carry the bird aloft on account of its weight, and in consequence they both of them sink together. The haliætus, and this one only, beats its young ones while in an unfledged state, with its wings, and forces [See Lucan, B. ix. l. 902.] them from time to time to look steadily upon the rays of the sun; and if it sees either of them wink, or even its eye water, it throws it headlong out of the nest, as being spurious and degenerate, while, on the other hand, it rears the one whose gaze remains fixed and steady. The haliætus [He contradicts himself, for he has already stated that it is the sixth species.] is not a species of itself, but is an eagle of mixed breed: hence their produce are of the species known as the ossifrage, from which again is produced the smaller vulture; while this in its turn produces the large vulture, which, however, is quite barren.

Some writers add to the above a seventh kind, which they call the “bearded” [“Barbata.” Cuvier takes it to be the læmmer-geyer, or Gypaëtus, the only bird of prey that has a beard.] eagle; the Tuscans, however, call it the ossifrage.

Chap. 4.—The Natural Characteristics of the Eagle.

The first three and the fifth class of eagles employ in the construction of their aerie the stone aëtites, [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.] by some known as “gangites;” which is employed also for many remedial purposes, and is proof against the action of fire. This stone has the quality also, in a manner, of being pregnant, for when shaken, another stone is heard to rattle within, just as though it were enclosed in its womb; it has no medical properties, however, except immediately after it has been taken from the nest.

Eagles build among rocks and trees; they lay three eggs, and generally hatch but two young ones, though occasionally as many as three have been seen. Being weary of the trouble of rearing both, they drive one of them from the nest: for just at this time the providential foresight of Nature has denied them a sufficiency of food, thereby using due precaution that the young of all the other animals should not become their prey. During this period, also, their talons become reversed, and their feathers grow white from continued hunger, so that it is not to be wondered at that they take a dislike to their young. The ossifrage, however, a kindred species, takes charge of the young ones thus rejected, and rears them with its own; but the parent bird still pursues them with hostility, even when grown up, and drives them away, as being its rivals in rapine. And indeed, under any circumstances, one pair of eagles requires a very considerable space of ground to forage over, in order to find sufficient sustenance; for which reason it is that they mark out by boundaries their respective allotments, and seek their prey in succession to one another. They do not immediately carry off their prey, but first deposit it on the ground, and it is only after they have tested its weight that they fly away with it.

They die, not of old age, nor yet of sickness, or of hunger; but the upper part of the beak grows to such an extent, and becomes so curved, that they are unable to open it. They take the wing, and begin upon the labours of the chase at mid-day; sitting in idleness during the hours of the morning, until such time as the places [Fora.] of public resort are filled with people. The feathers of the eagle, if mixed with those of other birds, will consume them. [Albertus Magnus says that he knows this by actual experience: “credat Judæus.”] It is said that this is the only bird that has never been killed by lightning; hence it is, that usage has pronounced it to be the armour-bearer of Jove.

Chap. 5. (4.)—When the Eagle Was First Used as the Standard of the Roman Legions.

Caius Marius, in his second consulship, assigned the eagle exclusively to the Roman legions. Before that period it had only held the first rank, there being four others as well, the wolf, the minotaur, the horse, and the wild boar, each of which preceded a single division. [Ordinem.] Some few years before his time it had begun to be the custom to carry the eagle only into battle, the other standards being left behind in camp; Marius, however, abolished the rest of them entirely. Since then, it has been remarked that hardly ever has a Roman legion encamped for the winter, without a pair of eagles making their appearance at the spot.

The first and second species of eagle, not only prey upon the whole of the smaller quadrupeds, but will attack deer even. Rolling in the dust, the eagle covers its body all over with it, and then perching on the antlers of the animal, shakes the dust into its eyes, while at the same time it beats it on the head with its wings, until the creature at last precipitates itself down the rocks. Nor, indeed, is this one enemy sufficient for it; it has still more terrible combats with the dragon, [See Virgil, Æn. B. xi. l. 755, et seq. By the “dragon,” he means some large serpent.] and the issue is much more doubtful, although the battle is fought in the air. The dragon seeks the eggs of the eagle with a mischievous avidity; while the eagle, in return, carries it off whenever it happens to see it; upon these occasions, the dragon coils itself about the wings of the bird in multiplied folds, until at last they fall to the earth together.

Chap. 6. (5.)—An Eagle Which Precipitated Itself on the Funeral Pile of a Girl.

There is a very famous story about an eagle at the city of Sestos. Having been reared by a little girl, it used to testify its gratitude for her kindness, first by bringing her birds, and in due time various kinds of prey: at last she died, upon which the bird threw itself on the lighted pile, and was consumed with her body. In memory of this event, the inhabitants raised upon the spot what they called an heroic monument, [“Heroum.”] in honour of Jupiter and the damsel, the eagle being a bird consecrated to that divinity.

Chap. 7. (6.)—The Vulture.

Of the vultures, the black ones [The great European vulture.] are the strongest. No person has yet found a vulture’s nest: hence it is that there are some who have thought, though erroneously, that these birds come from the opposite hemisphere. [Their nests are seldom seen, in consequence of being concealed in the crags of the highest mountains, the Pyrenees, for instance.] The fact is, that they build their nest upon the very highest rocks; their young ones, indeed, are often to be seen, being generally two in number. Umbricius, the most skilful among the aruspices of our time, says that the vulture lays thirteen eggs, [“Three” seems a better reading. Aristotle says “two.”] and that with one of these eggs [Ovid, in his “Art of Love,” speaks of the use of eggs in purifications made by lovesick damsels. See B. ii. l. 330.] it purifies the others and its nest, and then throws it away: he states also that they hover about for three [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.] days, over the spot where carcases are about to be found.

Chap. 8. (7.)—The Birds Called Sangualis and Immusulus.

There has been considerable argument among the Roman augurs about the birds known as the “sangualis” and the “immusulus.” Some persons are of opinion that the immusulus is the young of the vulture, and the sangualis that of the ossifrage. Massurius says, [Festus says, also, that it is the ossifrage, and was so called from the god Sancus.] that the sangualis is the same as the ossifrage, and that the immusulus is the young of the eagle, before the tail begins to turn white. Some persons have asserted that these birds have not been seen at Rome since the time of the augur Mucius; for my part, I think it much more likely, that, amid that general heedlessness as to all knowledge, which has of late prevailed, no notice has been taken of them.

Chap. 9. (8.)—Hawks. The Buteo.

We find no less than sixteen [Aristotle says ten.] kinds of hawks mentioned; among these are the ægithus, which is lame [A mere fable. Cuvier says that the ægithus of Aristotle was probably a kind of sparrow.] of one leg, and is looked upon as the most favourable omen for the augurs on the occasion of a marriage, or in matters connected with property in the shape of cattle: the triorchis also, so called from the number of its testicles, [Said to be three in number; a mere fable. The buzzard probably is meant.] and to which Phemonoë has assigned the first rank in augury. This last is by the Romans known as the “buteo;” indeed there is a family [The family of the Buteones belonged to the gens Fabia.] that has taken its surname from it, from the circumstance of this bird having given a favourable omen by settling upon the ship of one of them when he held a command. The Greeks call one kind [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.] “epileus;” the only one, indeed, that is seen at all seasons of the year, the others taking their departure in the winter.

The various kinds are distinguished by the avidity with which they seize their prey; for while some will only pounce on a bird while on the ground, others will only seize it while hovering round the trees, others, again, while it is perched aloft, and others while it is flying in mid air. Hence it is that pigeons, on seeing them, are aware of the nature of the danger to which they are exposed, and either settle on the ground or else fly upwards, instinctively protecting themselves by taking due precautions against their natural propensities. The hawks of the whole of Massæsylia, breed in Cerne, [See B. vi. c..] an island of Africa, lying in the ocean; and none of the kinds that are accustomed to those parts will breed anywhere else.

Chap. 10.—In What Places Hawks and Men Pursue the Chase in Company with Each Other.

In the part of Thrace which lies above Amphipolis, men [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.] and hawks go in pursuit of prey, in a sort of partnership as it were; for while the men drive the birds from out of the woods and the reed-beds, the hawks bring them down as they fly; and after they have taken the game, the fowlers share it with them. It has been said, that when sent aloft, they will pick [“Missas in sublime sibi excipere eos.” The meaning is very doubtful.] out the birds that are wanted, and that when the opportune moment for taking them has come, they invite the fowler to seize the opportunity by their cries and their peculiar mode of flying. The sea-wolves, too, in the Palus Mæotis, do something of a very similar nature; but if they do not receive their fair share from the fishermen, they will tear their nets as they lie extended. [The whole of this passage is, most probably, a gloss or interpolation.] Hawks will not [This is denied by Albertus Magnus.] eat the heart of a bird. The night-hawk is called cybindis; [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.] it is rarely found, even in the woods, and in the day-time its sight is not good; it wages war to the death with the eagle, and they are often to be found clasped in each other’s talons.

Chap. 11. (9.)—The Only Bird That Is Killed by Those of Its Own Kind.—A Bird That Lays Only One Egg.

The cuckoo seems to be but another form of the hawk, [Cuvier says, that this notion is still entertained by the French peasantry.] which at a certain season of the year changes its shape; it being the fact that during this period no other hawks are to be seen, except, perhaps, for a few days only; the cuckoo, too, itself is only seen for a short period in the summer, and does not make its appearance after. It is the only one among the hawks that has not hooked talons; neither is it like the rest of them in the head, or, indeed, in any other respect, except the colour only, while in the beak it bears a stronger resemblance to the pigeon. In addition to this, it is devoured by the hawk, if they chance at any time to meet; this being the only one among the whole race of birds that is preyed upon by those of its own kind. It changes its voice also with its appearance, comes out in the spring, and goes into retirement at the rising of the Dog-star. It always lays its eggs in the nest of another bird, and that of the ring-dove [This is not the case. It only lays in the nests of insectivorous birds.] more especially,—mostly a single egg, a thing that is the case with no other bird; sometimes however, but very rarely, it is known to lay two. It is supposed, that the reason for its thus substituting its young ones, is the fact that it is aware [Cuvier remarks, that this is not a very good reason; but we have not yet been able to find a better.] how greatly it is hated by all the other birds; for even the very smallest of them will attack it. Hence it is, that it thinks its own race will stand no chance of being perpetuated unless it contrives to deceive them, and for this reason builds no nest of its own: and besides this, it is a very timid animal. In the meantime, the female bird, sitting on her nest, is rearing a supposititious and spurious progeny; while the young cuckoo, which is naturally craving and greedy, snatches away all the food from the other young ones, and by so doing grows plump and sleek, and quite gains the affections of his foster-mother; who takes a great pleasure in his fine appearance, and is quite surprised that she has become the mother of so handsome an offspring. In comparison with him, she discards her own young as so many strangers, until at last, when the young cuckoo is now able to take the wing, he finishes by devouring [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.] her. For sweetness of the flesh, there is not a bird in existence to be compared to the cuckoo at this season.