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1. The dispositions of obscure and short-lived animals are less easily observed than those of long-lived animals; for they appear to have a certain inclination towards each natural affection of the soul, such as prudence and folly, courage and cowardice, mildness and cruelty, and such other habits. Some also, which have the sense of hearing, appear to be capable of a certain degree of instruction and discipline, both from one another and from mankind, for they not only distinguish the difference of sounds but also of signs.
2. And in all animals in which there is a distinction of the sexes nature has given a similar disposition to the males and to the females. This is most conspicuous in man, and the larger animals, and in viviparous quadrupeds; for the disposition of the female is softer, and more tameable and submissive, and more ingenious; as the females of the Lacedemonian dog are more gentle than the males. In the Molossian race of dogs, those employed in hunting differ in no respect from other dogs; while those employed in following sheep are larger and more fierce in their attack on wild beasts. A mixture of the Molossian and Lacedemonian races is both braver and more capable of enduring fatigue.
3. The females of all animals are less violent in their passions than the males, except the female bear and pardalis, for the female of these appears more courageous than the male. In other animals the females are more soft and insidious, less simple, more petulant, and more active in the care of their young. The disposition of the males is opposed to this; for they are more passionate and fierce, more straightforward, and less invidious. The vestiges of these dispositions exist, as we may say, in all, but are more conspicuous in those which have the strongest moral habits, and most of [Pg 231] all in mankind; for the nature of the human subject is the most complete, so that these habits appear more conspicuous in mankind than in other animals.
4. Wherefore women are more compassionate and more readily made to weep, more jealous and querulous, more fond of railing, and more contentious. The female also is more subject to depression of spirits and despair than the male. She is also more shameless and false, more readily deceived, and more mindful of injury, more watchful, more idle, and on the whole less excitable than the male. On the contrary, the male is more ready to help, and, as it has been said, more brave than the female; and even in the malacia, if the sepia is struck with a trident, the male comes to help the female, but the female makes her escape if the male is struck.
1. Animals often fight with each other, particularly those which inhabit the same places and eat the same food; for when food becomes scarce, congeners fight together. They say that seals which occupy the same locality will fight, the males with the males and the females with the females, until one party is either killed or ejected by the other, and their cubs also will fight in the same way. All animals also will fight with carnivorous creatures, and these will fight with other animals, for they feed upon living creatures; for which reason augurs observe the disputes and agreements of animals, considering that their disputes betoken war, and their agreements peace with each other.
2. When supplied with plenty of food, animals that are naturally afraid of man and fierce appear to submit themselves to him, and to conduct themselves quietly towards each other. The care which is taken of animals in Egypt demonstrates this circumstance; for even the fiercest creatures live together, when they have food enough, and are not in any want; for they become tame from the supply of their wants which they receive, as the crocodiles are tamed by the priests by the care which is bestowed on their food. The same thing may be observed in other countries and in their different parts.
3. The eagle and the dragon are enemies, for the eagle feeds on serpents. The ichneumon and the spider are also [Pg 232] enemies, for the ichneumon hunts the spider. Among birds the pcilis and the lark and the wood-pecker and chloreus are enemies, for they eat each others' eggs. The crow and the owl also are enemies; for at mid-day the crow, taking advantage of the dim sight of the owl, secretly seizes and devours its eggs, and the owl eats those of the crow during the night; and one of these is master during the day, the other during the night. The owl and orchilus are enemies; for the latter eats the eggs of the owl. During the day other birds fly round the owl, which is called "astonishing it," and as they fly round it pluck off its feathers. For this reason fowlers use it in hunting for all kinds of birds.
4. The presbys contends with the weasel and crow, for they eat its eggs and young. The turtle and pyrallis are foes, for their food and mode of life are the same. The celeus and libyus, kite and raven are enemies; for the kite, from the superiority of its claws and flight, can take from the raven anything it may have caught, so that their food is the cause of their enmity also. Those that obtain their food from the sea also are foes, as the brenthus, larus, and harpa. The triorches is a foe to the toad and the serpent; for the triorches eats the others. The turtle and chloreus are foes, for the chloreus kills the turtle, and the crow kills the bird called typanus. The little owl and all other birds with crooked claws eat the calaris, from whence their enmity arises.
5. The gecko and the spider are enemies, for the gecko eats spiders. The pipo is a foe to the heron, for it devours the eggs and young of the heron. Enmity also exists between the githus and the ass; for the ass frequents thorny places, that it may scratch its sores, and by this means, and when it brays it overturns the eggs and young of the githus, for they fall out of the nest from fear of the noise, and the bird, to revenge this injury, flies upon the ass and inflicts wounds. The wolf is the enemy of the ass, bull, and fox; for being a carnivorous animal, it attacks both oxen, asses, and foxes. The fox and circus are enemies for the same reason; for the circus having crooked claws, and being carnivorous, attacks and inflicts wounds with its claws.
6. The raven is an enemy to the bull and ass, for it flies round them and strikes their eyes. The eagle and the heron [Pg 233] are foes, for the eagle has crooked claws and attacks it, and the other dies in defending itself. The salon is a foe to the vulture, and the crex to the coleus, blackbird, and chlorion, which some persons fabulously say derives its origin from a funeral pile, for it destroys both themselves and their young. The sitta and trochilus are foes to the eagle, and the eagle, as well for this reason, as because it is carnivorous, is a foe to them all.
7. The anthus is the enemy of the horse, for it drives the horse from its pasture, for the anthus also feeds on grass; it is dim-sighted and not quick; it imitates the voice of the horse, which it frightens by flying at it, and drives it from its pasture; if the horse can seize upon it, he will kill it. The anthus lives near rivers and marshes; it is of a fine colour, and lives well. The ass attacks the colota, a creature which lives in the manger, and prevents it from eating, by making its way into its nostrils.
8. There are three kinds of heron, the black, the white sort, and the one called asterias; of these, the black rests and copulates with difficulty, for it utters a cry, and, as they say, bleeds from the eyes during coition, and the process of parturition is severe and painful; it attacks creatures which injure it, as the eagle, for it seizes upon it, and the fox, for this creature attacks it during the night, and the lark, which steals its eggs.
9. The serpent is an enemy to the weasel and the hog, for if the weasel and serpent live in the same house they both require the same kind of food; and swine eat serpents. The salon is a foe to the fox, for it strikes and pecks it, and destroys its young, for it has crooked claws. The raven and the fox are friendly, for the raven also attacks the salon, and so they help each other in the attack. The little owl and the salon are mutual foes, for both have crooked claws. The little owl and the swan attack the eagle, and the swan often comes off victorious. Of all birds the swans are most disposed to devour[223] each other.
10. Some animals are always ready to attack each other, and others, as mankind, only at particular times. The ass and the acanthis are foes, for the latter feeds entirely on thorns, but the former only when they are tender. The anthus, [Pg 234] acanthis, and githus are foes, and it is said that the blood of the anthus and githus will not mix. The crow and heron are friends, and so are the schnion, lark, ladus, and celeus, for the celeus lives by the side of rivers and thickets, but the ladus lives among rocks and mountains, and is fond of the place in which it lives. The piphinx, harpa, and kite are friends; the fox and the serpent also, for both live in holes; and the blackbird and the turtle.
11. The lion and jackal are foes, for both are carnivorous, and live on the same substances. Elephants also fight fiercely with each other, and strike with their tusks; the conquered submits entirely, and cannot endure the voice of the victor: and elephants differ much in the courage they exhibit. The Indians use both male and female elephants in war, though the females are smaller and far less courageous. The elephant can overthrow walls by striking them with its large tusks; it throws down palm trees by striking them with its head, and afterwards putting its feet upon them, stretches them on the ground.
12. Elephant-hunting is conducted in the following way: men mount upon some tame courageous animals; when they have seized upon the wild animals they command the others to beat them till they fail from fatigue. The elephant-driver then leaps upon its back and directs it with a lance; very soon after this they become tame and obedient. When the elephant-drivers mount upon them they all become obedient, but when they have no driver, some are tame and others not so, and they bind the fore legs of those that are wild with chains, in order to keep them quiet. They hunt both full-grown animals and young ones. Such is the friendship and enmity of these wild animals originating in the supply of food, and the mode of life.
1. Some fish are gregarious and friendly together, others that are less gregarious are hostile. Some are gregarious while they are pregnant, others during the season of parturition. On the whole, the following are gregarious: the tunny, mnis, cobius, box, saurus, coracinus, sinodon, trigla, murena, anthia, eleginus, atherinus, sarginus, belona, (mecon,) teuthus, [Pg 235] iulus, pelamis, scombrus, and colias. Some of these are both gregarious, and live in pairs, for all the others pair together; and some are gregarious at particular seasons, as it has been said, while they are pregnant, and others in the season of depositing their ova.
2. The labrax and cestreus, though most hostile, will at certain seasons congregate with each other, for not only do congeners congregate together, but all those which feed upon the same kind of food, where it is abundant. The cestreus and the conger often survive after having been deprived of their tail up to the anus, for the cestreus is eaten by the labrax, and the conger by the murna. The stronger are hostile to the weaker, for the strong fish eat the others. This much concerning marine creatures.
1. It has been already observed, that the dispositions of animals vary in cowardice, mildness, courage, gentleness, intelligence, and folly. The disposition of sheep, as I have said before, is foolish, and without sense; they are the most cowardly of all animals, and steal away into desert places for no purpose, and in winter often escape from their fold. When overtaken by a snow-storm, they will not get away, unless the shepherd drives them, but will stay behind and perish, unless the shepherds carry off the males, when the rest will follow.
2. If a person takes any of the goats by the beard (which is like hair), all the rest stand by as if infatuated, and look at it. Sheep will sleep in colder places than goats, for sheep are more quiet, and are ready to submit themselves to mankind. Goats do not bear the cold so well as sheep. Shepherds teach sheep to come together when they make a noise, and if any of them is left behind and does not join the flock when it thunders, it will cast its young, if pregnant; wherefore, when a noise is made, they will collect together in their sheds according to their custom. (Bulls are destroyed by wild beasts, if they wander away from their herd.) Sheep and goats lie down to rest separately in their races, and when the sun begins to descend, the shepherds say that the goats do not lie down with their faces to each other, but they turn their backs upon each other.
[Pg 236]1. Cows pasture in herds, and in companies, and if one of them wanders to a distance, all the rest follow, so that the herdsmen, if they do not find her, immediately examine all the herds. Mares in herds, if one of them happens to die, will bring up her foal among them, and the whole race of horses appears to have warm natural affections, of which the following is a proof: the barren mares will take away the foals from their mothers, and treat them with affection, though they soon die for want of milk.
1. Of all wild quadrupeds, the deer appears to be one of the most prudent in producing its young by the wayside (where wild beasts do not come, for fear of men); as soon as the young is born, the dam eats the chorion, and runs to the plant called seselis, which she eats, and having so done, returns to her kid. She then leads her kid to the station, to which it may learn to retreat in case of danger; this is usually a chasm in a rock with a single entrance, which they say that it stays and defends. When the male gets fat (which usually happens in the autumn) he does not show himself, but gets out of the way, for his fat makes him an easy prey. He sheds his horns in difficult and scarcely accessible places, from whence arises the proverb, "where the stag sheds its horns," for they are afraid of being seen, as if they had lost their means of defence. It is said that the left horn never has been seen, for he conceals it as if it had some medicinal power.
2. When a year old they have no horns, but only a commencement, as it were a sign of what is to be; this is short, and covered with thick down. When two years old, they have straight horns, like sticks, for which reason they are called pattalia (from , a stake). In the third year their horns are divided. In the fourth year they become rough. In this manner they are regularly developed till they are six years old. After this age their horns are always the same, so that their age cannot be distinguished by them. Old stags, however, are recognised by two signs; some of them have no teeth at all, others only a few; and [Pg 237] they never have the defensive part of the horn, that part of the growing horn which bends forwards, with which they defend themselves, this the old stags never possess, but all the increase of their horns is upwards.
3. They cast their horns every year about the month of April. When they cast their horns they hide themselves during the day, as it has been already observed. They conceal themselves in thickets, to protect themselves from the flies. During this period they feed (in the thickets) during the night, until their horns are grown. They are produced at first under the skin, and are covered with down. When they grow they expose them to the sun, that the horn may be matured and hardened. When they cease to give them pain if rubbed against trees, they leave such places, for they are confident in their means of defence. An Achanian stag[224] has been taken with a considerable quantity of green ivy growing on its horns as in green wood, for the horns are tender when first produced.
4. When the stags are bitten by the phalangium or any such creature, they collect together a number of crabs and eat them. It appears to be wholesome for mankind to drink the same substance, but it is not pleasant. The females, as soon as their young are born, eat the chorium, and it is not possible to obtain it, for they seize upon it before it can fall to the ground; it appears to have some medicinal properties. The females are captured by the sound of the pipe and by singing, and they are charmed by singing. When two persons go out to capture them, one shows himself, and either plays upon a pipe, or sings, and the other strikes behind, when the first gives him the signal; when the ears of the deer are erect, it hears quickly, and cannot be deceived, as it may be if they hang down.
1. When bears are in flight, they drive their cubs before them, or take them up and carry them. When nearly overtaken, they climb up into trees. When they first come from their hiding place they eat the arum, as it has been already observed, and gnaw the trees as if they were cutting teeth. Many other animals also prudently provide themselves with [Pg 238] remedies, for they say that the wild goats in Crete, when struck with an arrow, seek out the dittany, for this plant assists in working the arrow from their body.
2. And dogs, when they are ill, provide themselves with an emetic from a certain kind of grass. The panther, when it has eaten the poison called pardalianches,[225] seeks for human ordure, for this relieves it. This poison also will kill lions, the hunters, therefore, suspend ordure in a vessel from the trees, in order that the animal may not wander far from them; for the panther jumps at it and attempts to seize it, and dies before it can reach it. They say that the panther is aware that its peculiar scent is grateful to other wild animals, and that it preys upon them in concealment, and when deer approach near, it catches hinds.
3. The Egyptian ichneumons, when they see the serpent called the asp, do not attack it until they have invited others to assist. They roll themselves in mud as a protection against its blows and wounds; they first bathe in water and then roll themselves on the ground. When the crocodile gapes, the trochilus flies into its mouth, to cleanse its teeth; in this process the trochilus procures food, and the other perceives it, and does not injure it; when the crocodile wishes the trochilus to leave, it moves its neck that it may not bite the bird. When the tortoise has eaten a viper, it afterwards eats origanum; this has been observed. A person who had often seen this done, and had observed that when the tortoise had tasted the origanum it went back to the viper, gathered all the origanum, and when this was done, the tortoise died.
4. The weasel eats the herb rue before it attacks a serpent, for the smell of this herb is obnoxious to serpents. When the draco has eaten much fruit, it sucks the juice of the bitter lettuce; it has been seen to do this. When dogs are troubled with worms, they eat the green tops of corn. When the pelargus or any other bird has been wounded in flight, they feed upon marjoram, and many persons have seen the locust[226] settle upon the neck of serpents with which it was contending. The weasel also appears prudent in the way in which it attacks birds, for it kills them in the same manner as wolves kill sheep; it will fight also with serpents, and especially with those that hunt mice; for the weasel pursues the same animals.
[Pg 239]5. Observations have been frequently made on the instinct of the hedgehog, for when the north and south winds change, those that dwell in the earth alter the position of the entrance of their burrows; those which are kept in houses alter their position from wall to wall, so that they say that in Byzantium there was a person who obtained the character of predicting the change of the weather, from observations made on the hedgehog. The ictis is about the size of a small Maltese dog; in the thickness of its hair, its appearance, its white belly, and the cunning of its disposition, it resembles the weasel; it is easily tamed; it attacks hives of bees, for it is very fond of honey; it eats birds like cats; its penis, as it has been already observed, is bony, and appears to be a remedy for stranguary in the human subject; it is administered in shavings.
1. Many animals in their mode of life appear to imitate mankind, and one may observe greater accuracy of intellect in small than in large animals; as the manufacture of its dwelling by the swallow is remarkable among birds; it has the same method of combining chaff with mud, for it mixes the mud with straw, and if mud is not to be found, it dips in the water and rolls itself in the dust; it uses straw in making its nest as men use it, for it places the largest at the bottom, and makes it commensurate with its own bulk; both the male and female labour in support of the young. They feed each in turn, observing by some agreement the one which was first fed that none may receive food twice; at first they turn the dung out of the nest, but as the young birds increase in size, they teach them to turn themselves, so as to eject their excrement out of the nest.
2. There are some observations which may be made on pigeons, for they will not pair with many mates, nor do they forsake their first companion, unless they become widowed. The care and anxiety of the male at the time of parturition are remarkable, for if the pain causes the hen to feel languid when near the nest, he beats her and drives her in. When the young are hatched, the parent provides salt earth, which is injected into the open mouth of the young birds, as a preparation for the reception of food. When it is time for them to leave the nest, the male copulates with them all.
[Pg 240]3. In this manner they have usually a great affection for each other. Some females will copulate with males that are not their own mates. This bird is contentious, they fight together, and attack each other's nests, though not frequently, for although they are beaten when at a distance, they will fight to the last when near their nests; it appears to be characteristic of the pigeon, phaps, and turtle not to lean back when they drink, unless they have had sufficient. The turtle and phatta always remain faithful to the same male, and will not permit another to approach them, and the male and female share the labour of incubation. The male and female are not easily distinguished, except by their internal structure.
4. The phatta is long-lived, they have been known to live for twenty-five or thirty years, some even forty years; their claws grow when they become aged, and pigeon breeders cut them off, and in no other respect are they inferior when aged. The turtle and the pigeon, if they have been blinded by those who use them as decoy birds, will live eight years. The partridge lives fifteen years, the phaps and the turtle always build in the same places.
5. On the whole, males also live longer than females, but in these birds they say that the males die before the females; this conclusion is derived from the observation of those which are brought up in houses for decoy birds. Some persons say that cock-sparrows only live for one year, considering this as a proof, that early in the spring there are no birds with black beneath the chin; but they have it afterwards, as if none of the former birds had survived. The hen-sparrows have a longer life, for these are taken among the young birds, and are easily known by the hard portion about their bills. The turtle lives during the summer in cold places, and during the winter in warm places. The finch lives during the summer in warm places, and in cold places during winter.
1. The heavy birds do not make nests, for it does not agree with their mode of flight, as the quail, partridge, and all such birds; but when they have made a hole in the smooth ground (for they never produce their young in any other [Pg 241] place), they collect together some thorns and sticks for a defence against the hawks and eagles, and there lay their eggs and incubate. As soon as the young are hatched, they lead them out, because their slow flight prevents them from procuring food for them. The quail and partridge shelter their young under their wings, like the domestic fowl.
2. They do not lay and incubate in the same place, lest any one should discover the place while they sat there for a long while; and when any one in hunting falls upon the nest, the partridge halts before him, as if she could be taken, and draws him after her in the hopes of capture, until all the young ones have had time to escape, and after she flies back and recalls them to their nest. The partridge does not lay less than ten eggs, and often sixteen. As it has been already observed, it is a bird of an evil and cunning disposition. In the spring they separate with singing and fighting into pairs with the females which each may happen to take. The partridge being a bird of violent passions, it tries to prevent the female from incubation by rolling and breaking the eggs, if it can find them. The female, opposing this artifice by another, lays her eggs as she runs, and often, from her desire of laying, she drops her eggs wherever she may be, if the male is present; and, that they may all be preserved, she does not return to them. If she is observed by men, she leads them away from her eggs as from her young ones, and shows herself just before them until they are drawn away from the nest.
3. When the hen has escaped for incubation, the cocks crow and fight together. These are called widowers. The vanquished in the combat follows his conqueror who alone has intercourse with him; and if any one is overcome by a second, or by any chance one, the victor has secret intercourse with him. This does not take place always, but only at certain seasons of the year. The quail does the same, and domestic fowls also; for when a new one is offered in the temples, where they are kept without the females, all in turn are united with it. Tame partridges have sexual intercourse with wild ones, and strike and insult them.
4. The leader of the wild partridges attacks the partridge used in fowling, and goes out crowing as if he would fight. When he is taken in the trap, the other goes out and crows [Pg 242] in the same manner. If the partridge used for fowling is a cock, they behave in this way; but if it is a female, and she calls, the leader answers her call; and all the rest rise up and beat him, and drive him away from the female, because he attends to her instead of themselves. For this reason he often comes silently, that the others may not hear his voice and come out to fight him. And some experienced fowlers say that the male approaches the female in silence, that the other males may not hear him and compel him to fight them. The partridge not only calls, but also utters a shrill cry and other sounds.
5. And it often happens, when the hen is sitting, that if she sees the male approaching the decoy bird, she will get up from her nest and remain in his way, that he may have intercourse with her, and not be drawn away by the decoy bird. Partridges and quails have such violent sexual desires that they will fall upon the fowlers and often perch upon their heads.
1. This is the mode of the sexual intercourse of the partridge, and the way in which they are caught, and the nature of the rest of their crafty disposition. Quails, and partridges, and some other birds make their nest upon the ground, as it has been already observed. Of such birds the lark, woodcock, and quail do not perch upon trees, but upon the ground.
2. The woodpecker does not settle upon the ground, but it strikes trees in order to drive out the worms and flies which they contain, and it picks them up with its tongue as they emerge. Its tongue is wide and large. It walks upon the trees in any position, even beneath the branches, like the gecko. It has claws stronger than those of the colus, which provide for its safety in climbing trees; for it fixes them in the bark as it walks up the trees. There is one kind of woodpecker less than the blackbird, covered with small red spots, and another kind larger than the blackbird, and a third kind nearly as large as the domestic hen. It builds its nest upon trees, as it has been already observed, both on olive and other trees; and it feeds upon ants and worms which live in trees. It hunts for worms so diligently that they say it hollows out the trees so much as to throw them [Pg 243] down. A tame bird has been known to place an almond in a crack in wood, to prepare it for the stroke of its bill, and break it with three blows, in order to eat the kernel.
Many prudent actions appear to be performed by cranes; for they travel great distances, and fly at a great elevation, in order that they may see farther; and if they see clouds and wintry weather, they descend and rest themselves. They have also a leader in front; and in the rear are those which give a signal by whistling, so that their voice may be heard. When they settle on the ground, the rest sleep with their head under the wing, first on one foot, then on the other; but the leader watches with his neck stretched out, and when he sees anything he gives a signal by his cry. The pelicans, which inhabit the rivers, swallow large smooth shells with their drink, and when they have been digested in the first part of their stomach, they vomit them up, in order that they may pick out and eat their flesh when they open their valves.
1. The habitations of wild birds are contrived with relation to their mode of life and the preservation of their young. Some of them are kind to their young and careful of them: others are of a different disposition. Some manage well in their mode of life: others do not. Some dwell in clefts, and holes, and in rocks, as the birds called charadrius. This bird is faulty both in its colours and its voice. It appears during the night, and escapes in the day time.
2. The hawk also builds in precipitous places; and although it is carnivorous, it does not devour the heart of the bird it has killed. Some have observed this with respect to the quail and thrush, and others with other birds. There is also a change in their mode of hunting their prey, for they do not seize them in the same way in summer and in winter. It is said that no one has ever seen the young or the nest of the carrion vulture. Wherefore Herodorus, the father of Brison the sophist, says that they come from some distant elevated land, using this proof, that many of them appear suddenly, but where they come from is not intelligible [Pg 244] to any one. The reason is this, they make their nest in inaccessible rocks, and the bird is not an inhabitant of many countries. It produces one egg or two at the most.
3. Some birds dwell in mountains and in woods, as the hoopoe and brenthus. This bird has a good habit of life and a good voice. The trochilus dwells in thickets and holes. It is taken with difficulty, for it is swift in flight, and its disposition is weak; but its mode of life is good, and it is artful. It is also called presbys and basileus. Wherefore also they say that it fights with the eagle.
1. There are some which live near the sea, as the cinclus. In disposition this bird is cunning and difficult of capture, and when taken easily tamed. It appears to be lame, for its hinder parts are weak. All birds with webbed feet live near the sea, or near rivers and ponds, for their nature teaches them to seek what is advantageous for them. Many of those with divided feet live near waters and marshes, as the anthus in the neighbourhood of rivers. Its colour is beautiful, and its mode of life good. The diver lives near the sea, and when it plunges into the sea it remains as long a time as it would take a man to walk over a plethrum of ground. This bird is less than a hawk.
2. The swan also is web-footed, and lives in ponds and marshes. Its manner of life and disposition is good, and so is its mode of rearing their young and its old age. If an eagle attacks the swan, it defends itself and comes off victorious, but will not commence the fight. Swans have the power of song, especially when near the end of their life; for they then fly out to sea, and some persons, sailing near the coast of Libya, have met many of them in the sea singing a mournful song, and have afterwards seen some of them die.
3. The cymindis is seldom seen, for it inhabits mountains. It is black, and about the size of the hawk called pigeon hawk. Its form is long and slight. (It shines with a metallic lustre, wherefore also it is called chalcis.) The Ionians call it cymindis: wherefore Homer writes in the Iliad, "the bird which the gods call chalcis, and mortals cymindis." (Some persons say that the hybris is the same [Pg 245] bird as the ptynx.) This bird does not show itself in the day-time because its sight is dim; but it hunts its prey during the night like the eagle. It fights so fiercely with the eagle that both are often taken alive by the shepherds. It lays two eggs, and builds in rocks and caverns. Cranes fight so fiercely with each other that these also are taken alive by the shepherds while they are fighting. The crane lays two eggs.
1. The jay changes its voice frequently, for it utters a different one, as we may say, almost every day; it lays about nine eggs; it makes its nest upon trees, of hair and wool; when the acorns fall, it conceals and stores them up. Many persons have reported that the stork is fed by its young, and some people say the merops also, and that they are fed by the young, not only in their old age, but as soon as the young birds are able to do so, and that the parents remain within the nest; in appearance, this bird is green beneath the wings, and blue above, as the kingfisher, and its wings are red at the extremity. It lays six or seven eggs in the autumn, in muddy caverns, and digs as much as four cubits into the ground.
2. The bird called chloris from being yellow beneath, is of the size of the lark, and lays four or five eggs; it makes its nest of symphytum, which it pulls up by the root, and lines it with straw, hair, and wool. The blackbird and jay do the same, and line their nests with the same materials; the nest of the acanthyllis is also artfully constructed, for it is folded together like a ball of flax, and has a small entrance. And the natives of those places say that there is a cinnamon bird, and that they bring the cinnamon from the same places as the bird, and that it makes its nest of it. It builds its nest in lofty trees and among their branches, but the natives of the country tip their arrows with lead, with which they destroy the nests, and then pick out the cinnamon from the other material.
1. The halcyon is not much larger than a sparrow; its colour is blue and green, and somewhat purple; its whole [Pg 246] body is composed of these colours as well as the wings and neck, nor is any part without every one of these colours. Its bill is somewhat yellow, long, and slight; this is its external form. Its nest resembles the marine balls which are called halosachn,[227] except in colour, for they are red; in form it resembles those sicy (cucumbers) which have long necks; its size is that of a very large sponge, for some are greater, others less. They are covered up, and have a thick solid part as well as the cavity; it is not easily cut with a sharp knife, but when struck or broken with the hand, it divides readily like the halosachn. The mouth is narrow, as it were a small entrance, so that the sea-water cannot enter, even if the sea is rough; its cavity is like that of the sponge; the material of which the nest is composed is disputed, but it appears to be principally composed of the spines of the belone, for the bird itself lives on fish. It also ascends rivers; it does not produce more than five eggs; it continues to reproduce throughout the whole of its life, from the time of being four months old.
1. The hoopoe generally makes its nest of human ordure. It changes its appearance in summer and winter, like most other wild birds. The titmouse, as they say, lays the greatest number of eggs, some say that the bird called melancoryphus lays the greatest number of eggs after the Libyan sparrow, seventeen have been observed, but it will produce more than twenty, and, as they say, it always lays a great many. This bird also builds in trees, and lives upon worms. It is characteristic of this bird and the nightingale not to have any tip to their tongue. The githus has a good mode of life, and is careful of its young, but is lame upon its feet. The chlorion is a clever and diligent bird, but its flight is difficult, and its colours bad.
2. The elea, like some other birds, has an excellent mode of life, and dwells during the summer in groves and in the shade, and during the winter in sunshine, perching upon the reeds on the sides of marshes. It is a small bird, with a good voice.
3. The bird called gnaphalus has a sweet voice, its colours [Pg 247] are beautiful, its mode of life good, and its form elegant; it appears to be a foreign bird, for it is rarely found in places where there are no houses.
4. The disposition of the crex is pugnacious, but it is ingenious in providing for its own subsistence, though otherwise an unfortunate bird. The sitta is pugnacious, but its disposition is gentle and tractable, and its mode of life good. It is said to be medicinal, for it is skilful in many things. It produces many young, which it treats with kindness, and obtains its food by striking trees.
5. The little owl feeds during the night, and is rarely visible by day. It lives in rocks and caverns, for its food is of two kinds; and in disposition it is diligent and ingenious. There is a small bird called certhius, which is bold in disposition, and lives on trees and eats the thrips (timber worm). In disposition it is diligent in search of food, and its voice is brilliant. The disposition and hue of the acanthis is bad, but it has a shrill voice.
1. Among the herons, as it was before observed, the black heron copulates with difficulty, but it is an ingenious bird. It carries its food about, and is skilful in procuring it. It works during the day. Its colour, however, is bad, and its stomach always fluid. Of the other two (for there are three kinds of them), the white heron is beautifully coloured and copulates without pain, and builds its nest and attends its young carefully in trees. It inhabits marshes and lakes, plains and meadows. The bittern, which is called ocnus (the idle), is said in fables to have been originally a slave. Its name indicates its very idle disposition.
2. The herons live in this manner. The bird called poyx is peculiar, for it is its disposition to eat the eyes of other creatures, and is therefore the enemy of the harpa, which lives upon the same food.
1. There are two kinds of cottyphus. The one is black, and is found everywhere; the other is white. In size they are alike, and their voice is very similar. The white one is found in Cyllene, in Arcadia, and nowhere else. The lus [Pg 248] is similar to the black cottyphus, but is rather smaller. It makes its house upon rocks and tiles. It has not a dark beak, like the blackbird.
2. Of thrushes there are three forms. The one is called misselthrush, for it lives upon nothing but miseltoe and resin. It is as large as the citta; the other is called fieldfare. The voice of this bird is shrill; its size is that of the blackbird. There is another kind, which some persons call illas, which is smaller than the others and less variegated.
3. There is a certain bird living on rocks, which is called blue thrush. This bird generally inhabits Scyrus. It lives upon the wing. It is less than the blackbird, but larger than the finch. Its feet are black, and it climbs up upon rocks. It is entirely blue. It has a smooth, long beak, but its legs are short, and resemble those of the woodpecker.
1. The oriole is entirely of a yellowish green. This bird is not visible in the winter. It is seen in the greatest numbers at the summer solstice, and takes its departure when Arcturus rises. It is of the same size as the turtle. The malacocraneus always perches upon the same place, and is captured there. This is its appearance: its head is large, and has the form of cartilage; its size is smaller than the thrush; its beak is strong, small, and round; its colour is entirely cinereous; its feet are strong, and its wings weak; it is generally captured by the owl.
2. There is another bird, called the pardalus, which is generally gregarious, and a single bird is never seen. Its colour is entirely cinereous. In size it resembles those already mentioned. Its feet are strong, and its wings are not weak. Its voice is frequent and not deep. The collyrion lives on the same food as the blackbird, and in size much resembles those just named. It is generally taken in the winter. These birds are visible all the year round, and so are those which live in the neighbourhood of towns, the raven and crow; for these are always visible, and neither migrate nor conceal themselves.
3. Of the jackdaw there are three kinds, one called coracias, which is as large as the crow, and has a red beak; another is called lycius; there is also a small one called [Pg 249] bomolochus; there is also another kind of jackdaw in Lydia and Phrygia which is web-footed.
4. Of the lark there are two kinds. One dwells on the ground, and has a crest. The other is gregarious, and not solitary. Its colour is similar, though it is a smaller bird, and has no crest. It is used for food.
5. The ascalopas is generally taken in enclosed gardens. It is of the size of the domestic fowl, it has a long beak, and in colour resembles the attagen. It runs quickly, and is very partial to the neighbourhood of mankind. The starling is variegated, and is of the size of the blackbird.
6. There are two kinds of ibis in Egypt; the white and the black. The white live in all the rest of Egypt, but are not found in Pelusium. The black occur in Pelusium, but not in other parts of Egypt.
7. One kind of scops, called brown owl, is seen throughout the year, but it is not eaten, for it is not fit for food. Others occur sometimes in the autumn, when they appear for one, or not more than two days. They are eatable, and are highly esteemed. They differ in no respect from the brown owl, except in fatness; and they are silent, whereas the other has a voice. No observations have ever been made on their mode of generation, except that they appear when the west wind blows. This is manifest.
1. The cuckoo, as it has been already observed, makes no nest, but lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, especially in that of the phaps, and in those of the sparrow and lark on the ground, and in the nest of the chloris in trees. It lays one egg, upon which it does not sit, but the bird in whose nest it lays both hatches the egg and nurses the young bird; and, as they say, when the young cuckoo grows, it ejects the other young birds, which thus perish.
2. Others say that the mother bird kills them, and feeds the young cuckoo with them; for the beauty of the young cuckoo makes her despise her own offspring. People assert that they have been eye-witnesses of most of these circumstances, but all are not equally agreed as to the mode in which the other young birds perish. Some persons say [Pg 250] that the old cuckoo comes and devours the young of the other bird. Others say that the great size of the young cuckoo enables it to seize upon the food which is brought to the nest, so that the rest perish from starvation. Others say that the cuckoo, being the stronger bird, kills those that are brought up with it.
3. The cuckoo appears to act prudently in thus depositing her egg; for it is conscious of its own timidity, and that it cannot defend its young, and therefore places them under the protection of another bird, in order that they may be preserved; for this bird is very cowardly, and when it is pecked by even small birds, it flies away from them.
1. That the swift, which some persons call cypsellus, resembles the swallow, has been already observed, and it is not easy to distinguish them apart, except that the legs of the apos are covered with feathers. These birds rear their young in small nests made of mud, which have a passage sufficient for their admission. The nest is constructed in a narrow place under rocks and caverns, so that it avoids both beasts and men.
2. The goatsucker, as it is called, is a mountain bird, larger than the blackbird, and less than the cuckoo. It lays two, or not more than three eggs, and is slothful in its disposition. It flies against the goats and sucks them, whence its name (gothelas, the goat-sucker). They say that when the udder has been sucked that it gives no more milk, and that the goat becomes blind. This bird is not quick sighted by day, but sees well at night.
3. The ravens in small districts, and where they have not food enough, are found only in pairs; and as soon as their young birds are able to fly, the old birds first of all turn them out of the nest, and then drive them from the place. The raven lays four or five eggs. When the hired soldiers of Medias perished in Pharsalus, Athens and the Peloponnesus were deserted by the ravens, as if they had some means of communication with each other.
1. There are several kinds of eagles. One which is called pygargus (hen-harrier), which is found in plains and groves, [Pg 251] and in the vicinity of towns. Some persons call it nebrophonus. It is a courageous bird, and flies to mountains, and woods also. The other kinds rarely appear in plains and groves. There is another kind of eagle called plangus, the second in point of size and strength, which lives among thickets, and valleys, and marshes. It is called nettophonus and morphnus. Of this kind Homer speaks at the departure of Priam.
2. There is another kind, which is black. It is smaller, and stronger than the others. It inhabits mountains and woods. It is called melanetus, and lagophonus. This is the only one that rears and educates its young. It is swift, elegant, liberal, fearless, warlike, and of a good omen, for it neither cries nor screams. There is another kind with spotted wings. It has a white head, and is the largest of all eagles. Its wings are short, and its rump very long, like the vulture; it is called oreipelargus, and hypetus. It inhabits groves. It has all the faults of the rest, and none of their good qualities; for it is taken and pursued by ravens and other birds. It is a heavy bird, and its mode of life is bad. It carries about dead creatures; it is always hungry, and screams and cries.
3. There is another kind of eagle called sea eagle, which has a long and thick neck, curved wings, and a wide rump. It inhabits the sea and the coast. When they have seized their prey, and cannot carry it away, they are borne down into the sea. There is, again, another kind of eagle, called true eagle. They say that these alone of all other birds are true, for the other kinds are mixed and crossed with each other, both eagles, hawks, and other smaller kinds. This is the largest of all the eagles, greater than the phene; one and a half times as large as other eagles, and of a red colour: it is seldom seen, like that called cymindis.
4. The time for the activity of the eagle, and for its flight, is from dinner till the evening, for it sits aloft till the time when the market-place begins to fill. When eagles grow old, their beaks become more and more curved, so that at last they die of famine. The story goes, that the eagle was once a man, and suffers this as a punishment for inhospitality to a guest. Any superabundant food is put aside for their young in their nests, for it is not easy for them to procure it every day, and sometimes they have no place from whence to bring it.
[Pg 252]5. If they find anyone attempting to take their nest, they beat them with their wings, and tear them with their claws. They do not make their nests in plains, but in high places, especially in precipitous rocks, but never on trees. They rear their young till they can fly, and then turn them out of their nests, and drive them to a great distance; for one pair of eagles occupies a wide space of country, so that they will suffer no others to live near them.
6. They do not hunt their prey near their nests, but at a considerable distance; and when they have hunted and taken anything, they lay it down and do not take it away at once, but carry it away when they have tried its weight. They do not capture hares at once, but let them escape to the plain. They do not descend to the plain at once, but with large though gradually decreasing circles. They do this in order that they may not be ensnared. They settle upon eminences, because they cannot rise easily from the ground. They fly aloft, that they may see the greater extent of country. For this cause men say that the eagle is the only divine bird.
7. All birds with crooked claws avoid sitting upon rocks, for its hardness is injurious to their claws. The eagle hunts fawns, hares, and other animals which it is able to conquer. It is a long-lived bird. This is plain from the long continuance of their nests in the same place.
8. In Scythia there is a kind of bird as large as a bustard, which produces two young ones. It does not sit upon its eggs, but hides them in the skin of a hare or fox. It watches them from a neighbouring tree all the while it is not engaged in hunting its prey. And if anyone approaches them, it fights and strikes with its wings, like the eagle.
1. The owl and nycticorax, and the other birds which see imperfectly by daylight, procure their food by hunting in the night. They do not this all the night, but in twilight and at early dawn. They hunt mice, and lizards, and beetles, and such other small animals.
2. The bird called asprey produces many young, is of a good habit of body, diligent in search of food, and gentle; and feeds both its own young and those of the eagle: for [Pg 253] when the eagle turns out its young, the phene takes them up and feeds them; for the eagle ejects them before the proper time, when they still require feeding, and are unable to fly. The eagle appears to eject its young from the nest from envy; for it is an envious and hungry bird, and not quick in seizing its prey. It captures large creatures when it can. When its young have grown, it envies them, for they are good for food, and tears them with its claws. The young also fight in the nest for particular places, and for the food. The parent then turns them out of the nest and strikes them. When they are turned out they begin to scream, and the phene comes and takes them up. The phene is dim-sighted, and its eyes are imperfect.
3. The sea-eagle is very quick-sighted, and compels its young to gaze on the sun before they are feathered. If anyone of them refuse, it is beaten and turned round: and the one of them which first weeps when gazing on the sun is killed, the other is reared. It lives near the sea side, and obtains its food by pursuing marine birds, as it was before remarked. It pursues and takes them one at a time, watching them as they emerge from the sea. And if the bird, as it rises, sees the eagle watching it, it dives again from fear, in order that it may rise again in another place: but the eagle's quick sight enables him to pursue the bird till it is either suffocated, or taken on the wing; but it never attacks them in any numbers, for they drive it away by sprinkling it with their wings.
4. The petrels are taken with foam, for they devour it. They are therefore taken by sprinkling them. All the rest of its flesh is good; the rump alone smells of seaweed, and they are fat.
1. The buzzard is the strongest of the hawks; next to this the merlin. The circus is less strong; the asterias and phassophonus, and pternis are different. The wide-winged hawks are called hypotriorches, others are called perci and spizi; others are the eleii and the phrynolochi; these birds live very easily, and fly near the ground.
2. Some persons say that there are no less than ten kinds of hawks; they differ from each other, for some of them [Pg 254] kill the pigeon as it perches on the ground, and carry it away, but do not touch it in flight; others attack it as it sits upon the trees, or in some such situation, but will not touch it when upon the ground or in flight; other kinds of hawks will not strike the bird when perching upon the ground or anywhere else, but will endeavour to attack it when in flight.
3. They say that the pigeons can distinguish each of these kinds, so that if they see one of those which attack them in the air flying towards them, they remain sitting where they are, but if it is one of those which strike them on the ground, they do not remain still, but fly away.
4. In the city of Thrace, formerly called Cedropolis, men are assisted by hawks in pursuing birds in the marshes. They strike the reeds and wood with sticks in order that the birds may fly up, and the hawks appearing above pursue them, the birds then fall to the earth through fear, when the men strike them with their sticks and take them, and divide the prey with the hawks, for they throw away some of the birds, and the hawks come and take them.
5. On the Palus Motis, they say that wolves are accustomed to assist the fishermen in their calling, and if they do not give them their share of the food, they destroy the nets that are laid to dry on the ground. This, then, is the nature of birds.
1. Marine animals also have many artful ways of procuring their food, for the stories that are told of the batrachus, which is called the fisher, are true, and so are those of the narce. For the batrachus has appendages above its eyes, of the length of a hair, with a round extremity to each like a bait; it buries itself in the sand or mud, and raises these appendages above the surface, and when the small fish strike them, it draws them down, till it brings the fish within reach of its mouth.
2. The narce stupefies any fish it may wish to master, with the peculiar force which it has in its body, and then takes and feeds upon them; it lies concealed in sand and [Pg 255] mud, and captures as they swim over it any fish that it can take and stupefy; of this circumstance many persons have been witnesses; the trygon also hides itself, but not in the same manner; the following is a proof of their mode of life, for they are often taken with the cestreus in their stomach, which is the swiftest of fishes, and they are the slowest; and the batrachus, when nothing is left on the hair-like appendages, is taken in an emaciated condition. The narce also has plainly caused stupefaction in men.
3. The onus, batus, psetta, and rhine also bury themselves in the sand, and when they have hidden themselves, the appendage which is in their mouth stands up, this the fishermen call their staff, and the small fish approach it as if it was the sea-weed, on which they usually live. Wherever the anthias is found there are no obnoxious creatures; when this sign is observed, those who collect sponges dive for them there, and call the anthias the sacred fish; this is only a coincidence, just as the pig and partridge are never found where there are snails, for they eat them all.
4. The marine-serpent, in colour and in the form of its body, resembles the conger, but it is darker, and more powerful. If it is captured and allowed to escape, it buries itself in the sand, which it pierces with its snout, for its snout is sharper than that of a serpent. The creature called scolopendra when it has swallowed the hook turns itself inside out, till the hook is ejected, when it turns to its original form. The scolopendra, like that which inhabits the land, is attracted by the smell of cooked meat; it does not bite with the mouth, but stings with the contact of the whole body, like the creatures called sea-nettles.
5. The fish called alopex, when one of them has swallowed the hook, assist each other in this matter, as the scolopendra also does, for they collect together round the line and bite it off; in some places, where the water is swift and deep, they are taken with many hooks in them. The ami also collect together when they see any obnoxious creature near them, and the largest swim round them in a circle; when attacked, they defend themselves; they have strong teeth, and the lamia and other creatures when attacking them have been seen to be repulsed with wounds.
[Pg 256]6. Among river fish the male glanis is very careful of his young fry, but the female goes away as soon as she has deposited her ova, but the male continues to watch by the greater number of the ova, paying them no more attention than to drive away other fish, that they may not carry away the ova; he is thus employed for forty or fifty days until the young fry are so far grown that they can escape from other fish; the fishermen know when it is guarding its ova, for it drives away other fish, and as it jumps at them it makes a noise and a murmur. It remains with such affection beside its ova, that if they are deposited in deep water, and the fishermen attempt to bring them into shallow water, the fish will not forsake them; but if young it is easily taken with a hook, from its habit of seizing upon any fish that may come in its way; but if it is experienced, and has swallowed a hook before, it does not leave its ova, but with its hard teeth it will bite and destroy the hook.
7. All creatures with fins, and stationary animals, inhabit either the places in which they were born, or similar localities, for their peculiar food is found in such places. The carnivorous fish are the greatest wanderers; all are carnivorous with a few exceptions, as the cestreus, salpa, trigla, and chalcis. The mucous substance which the pholis emits forms around it, and resembles a chamber. Of the apodal testacea, the pecten is the most locomotive, for it flies by means of its own valves; the purpura and its congeners advance very slowly.
8. All the fish except the cobius leave the Pyrrhic Euripus during the winter on account of the cold, for the Euripus is colder than the sea, and return again in the spring. In the Euripus the scarus, the thrissa, all the thorny fish, the galus, acanthia, carabus, polypus, bolitna, and some others are wanting, and of those that are produced in the Euripus, the white cobius is not an inhabitant of the sea. Those fish which have ova are in the highest season in the spring, before they produce their ova; those that are viviparous in the autumn, and besides these the cestreus, trigla, and their congeners. In the neighbourhood of Lesbos, both the marine fish and those of the Euripus produce their ova in the Euripus; they copulate in the autumn, and deposit [Pg 257] their ova in the spring. The males and females of the selachea also mix together, in numbers, in the autumn, for the purpose of copulation; but in the spring they separate until they have produced their young; at the period of sexual intercourse, they are often taken united together.
9. The sepia is the most cunning of the malacia, and is the only one which uses its ink for the purpose of concealment, when it is not alarmed. The polypus and teuthis emit their ink only when alarmed. These creatures never emit all their ink, and as soon as it is emitted it is secreted again. But the sepia, as it has already been remarked, makes use of its ink for the purposes of concealment, and when it pretends to advance, it returns into its ink. With its long extended tentacula it not only pursues small fish, but frequently attacks the cestreus. The polypus is a foolish creature, for it will approach a man's hand if brought near it. It is an economical animal, for it collects all its prey in the hole in which it dwells, and when the most useful part has been consumed, it ejects the shells, the coverings of the cancri, and conchylia, and the spines of the fish, it pursues any fish that may come in its way, changing its colour and imitating that of any neighbouring stone. It does the same thing when alarmed.
10. Some persons say that the sepia has power to do the same thing, and that it can imitate the colour of the place it inhabits. The rhine is the only fish endowed with the same power, for it can change its colours like the polypus. The polypus rarely lives for two years, for it is by nature subject to decay. This is a proof of it, that when pressed, this animal always emits something, until at last it consumes away. The females suffer so much from this in the period of parturition, as to become foolish, and not perceive any agitation of the waves, so that they are easily taken by the hand of the diver; they become like mucus, and are not able to pursue their prey.
11. The males become hard and shining. This appears to be a proof that they do not survive a year, that in the summer and autumn, after the production of the young, it is difficult to find a large polypus, though large ones were abundant a short time before; when they have produced their ova, they say that both sexes grow old and become [Pg 258] so weak, that they are devoured by small fish, and are easily dragged out of their holes, though before they would have permitted nothing of the kind. They also say that the small and young ones will not endure this, and that they are stronger than the large ones. The sepia also only lives one year; the polypus is the only one of the malacia that ever ventures upon dry land, it advances upon a rough surface, but avoids smooth places. In other respects, it is a strong animal, but its neck, if pressed, becomes very weak.
12. This is the nature of the malacia. They say that ... form their rough shells round themselves like a hard breastplate, which increases as they grow, and that they can leave these, as if they were a hole or a habitation. The nautilus is a polypus peculiar both in its nature and its actions; for it sails upon the surface of the sea, rising up from the depths of the waters. It is brought to the surface with its shell inverted, in order that it may go out more easily and navigate in an empty shell. When it reaches the surface, it turns its shell over. There is a membrane extended between two of its tentacula similar to the web feet of birds, except that theirs is thick and that of the nautilus thin and like a spider's web. This it uses for a sail when the wind blows, and it extends two of its tentacula for rudders. If alarmed, it fills its shell and sinks in the sea. No one has made any accurate observation on the production and growth of the shell. It appears not to originate in sexual intercourse, but to be produced like that of other conchylia, nor is it clear whether it can live when taken out of its shell.
1. The most laborious of all insects, if compared with the rest, are the tribes of ants and bees, with the hornets, wasps, and their other congeners. Some of the spiders are more neat, graceful, and skilful than others in their mode of life. Every one may see the diligence of the ant; for it is on the surface, and that they always travel in one direction, and make a store and treasure-house of food, for they work even in the night when there is a full moon.
2. There are many kinds of spiders and phalangia. Of the phalangia that bite there are two sorts. The one resembles [Pg 259] those called wolves. It is small, variegated, sharp, and active in jumping. It is called psylla. The other is larger. Its colour is black, and its fore-legs are long. Its movements are slow, and it can scarcely walk. It is not strong, nor capable of jumping. The other kinds, which the dealers in medicine offer for sale, either do not bite at all, or very slightly.
3. There is another kind of those called wolves. One is small, and makes no web, and the larger sort makes a coarse inferior web upon the ground or in hedges. It always makes its web over chinks in the soil, and with the origin of the web in the interior it keeps guard until something falls into the web and moves it, when it comes out. The variegated kind makes a small inferior web among trees.
4. There is another third kind, which is very skilful and graceful. It commences the process of weaving by extending its web to the extremities on all sides, and then it draws a thread from the centre, and takes up the centre correctly. Upon these threads it weaves, as it were, the woof, and then weaves them altogether. Its sleeping place and store-room are situated at a distance. In seeking its prey it watches in the middle of its web. When anything falls into the web and the centre is moved, the spider surrounds and encloses it in a web, until it is rendered powerless, and then takes it up and carries it to her store. If hungry, she sucks it, for this is their method of enjoyment; and if not hungry, hastens back for the pursuit of more prey, and in the first place mends her broken web.
5. If anything in the meanwhile has fallen into the web, she first goes to the centre, and from that point, as before, falls upon her victim. If anyone destroys the web, she begins spinning again at the rising or setting of the sun, for it is at this time that her prey usually falls into the web. The female both makes the web and pursues the prey. The male only enjoys it with her.
6. There are two kinds of graceful spiders that spin a thick web, one large and one small. The one with long legs keeps watch suspended above its web, that the creatures which fall into the web may not be frightened when taken, and then it falls upon them from above, for its size prevents [Pg 260] it from being easily concealed. But the smaller kind conceals itself in a small superior chamber of the web.
7. Spiders have the power of emitting their web as soon as they are born, not from within their bodies, as if it were an excrement, as Democritus says, but from the surface of their body, like the bark of a tree, or like the ejected spines of some animals, as the porcupine. They will attack and surround with their web animals larger than themselves; for they will attack small lizards, and beginning at the mouth, will emit the web until their mouth is covered, and then will approach and bite them. This is the nature of these animals.
1. There is a tribe of insects which has not yet received any name, although in form all the species resemble each other. This tribe includes those that form wax, as the bee and those which resemble it in shape. Of these there are nine sorts, six of which are gregarious, the bee, the king bee, the drone, which dwells among the bees, the annual wasp, the hornet, and tenthredo. These are solitary, the small siren, of a tawny colour, and another siren, which is large, black, and variegated. The third, which is larger than these, is called bombylius. The ants pursue no prey, but only collect that which is already found. The spiders do not make anything, nor lay up a store, but only hunt down their prey.
2. Of the rest of the nine kinds already mentioned we will treat hereafter. The bees do not hunt for prey, but they both produce and lay up stores. The honey is their food. This is plainly shown when the honey dealers attempt to take the combs. When they are fumigated and suffering from the effects of the smoke, they devour the honey greedily, which they are not observed to do at other times; but they spare it and store it up for food. They have also another kind of food, which is called cerinthus (bee bread), which is of an inferior quality, and sweet like figs. They carry this upon their legs as they do the wax.
3. There is great variety in their diligence and mode of life. For when a clean hive is given them, they build their combs, bringing the drops from flowers and trees, such as the willow, the elm, and other glutinous trees. With this also they smear the floor of their hive, for fear of other creatures. [Pg 261] The honey dealers calls this substance commosis, and they build up the entrance of their hive if it is too wide. They first build cells for their own habitation, then those for the kings and the drones. They always build cells for themselves, and royal cells when there are many young; but they only build cells for the drones when there is plenty of honey.
4. They make the royal cells near their own. These are small. Those for the drones are placed next. These are of a smaller size than those of the bees. They commence the formation of their combs from the top of the hives, and carry them down until several reach the floor of the hive. The cells, whether for the honey or the grubs, are constructed with two mouths; for there are two cells built on each base, like a double cup, one on the inside, the other on the outside. The cells at the beginning of the comb, near the hives, are joined together for as much as two or three rows in a circle, and are short, and contain no honey. The cells which are formed with the greatest quantity of wax contain the most honey.
5. They spread the substance called mitys at the entrance of their hives, near the opening. This material is black, as if it was the purification of the wax, and of a harsh smell. It is considered a remedy for contusions and suppurations. Next to this the pissocerus is smeared over the floor of the hive. This substance is less useful than the mitys in the healing art. Some persons say that the drones build cells for themselves, dividing both the hive and the wax with the bees; but they make no honey, but both themselves and their young are supported by that of the bees. The drones generally remain in the hives; and if they fly out they rise in the air with a great noise, wheeling about as if they were exercising; and when they have done this they return to the hive and feast themselves on the honey.
6. The king bees never leave the hives, either for food or any other purpose, except with the whole swarm; and they say that, if a swarm wanders to a distance, they will retrace their steps and return until they find the king by his peculiar scent. They say also that, when the king is unable to fly, he is carried by the swarm; and if he perishes, the whole swarm dies with him. And if they continue for a time to form cells, they place no honey in them, and then they also perish.
[Pg 262]7. The bees collect the wax by climbing actively on the flowers with their fore feet. They cleanse these upon the middle pair of legs, and their middle legs again on the curved part of their hind legs, and thus loaded they fly away. They are evidently heavily loaded. During each flight the bee does not settle upon flowers of different kinds, but as it were from violet to violet, and touches no other species till it returns to the hive. There they are unloaded, and two or three bees follow every one on its return to the hive. It is not easy to see what is taken, nor has their manner of working it been ever observed. Their manner of collecting wax upon the olive trees has been the subject of observation; for the thickness of the leaves makes them remain a long while in this tree.
8. After having done this they produce their young. There is nothing to prevent there being grubs, and honey, and drones in the same comb. As long as the king bee is alive, they say that the drones are produced in a separate place; but when he is dead they are produced by the bees in their own cells, and such drones are more passionate: for this cause they are called stingers, not that they have any sting, but that they would sting, if they had the power to do so. The drone cells are larger. Sometimes the drone cells are placed by themselves, but are generally combined with those of bees, for which reason they cut them off.
9. There are several kinds of bees, as has been already observed: two kinds of kings, the better sort of which is red, and the other sort is black and variegated, and in size double that of a good bee. The best kind is small, round, and variegated; the other is long, like the wild bee. There is another called phor (the thief); it is black, and has a broad abdomen. The drone is another sort: it is the largest of them all, has no sting, and is stupid. The bees that are produced from those that inhabit cultivated places are different from the natives of mountainous countries, for those produced from wood bees are more hairy, smaller, less, more diligent, and more violent. The best bees elaborate a smooth comb, with a polished surface. The comb also is of one form, as if entirely adapted for honey, or for grubs, or drones; and if it happens that all these are produced in the same comb, each form will be elaborated in order.
[Pg 263]10. The long bees make their combs uneven, and the covering swollen, like that of the wild bee. Their offspring, also, and the rest of their productions, are not arranged in any order, but according to chance. Among them there are many bad kings, and many drones, and thieves, as they are called; but little or no honey. The bees sit upon the combs, in order to bring them to maturity. If this is not done, they say that the cells perish and become filled with a web; but if afterwards they are able to continue sitting, something like an abortion is produced: if they cannot sit, the whole perishes. Maggots are formed in those cells that perish, which acquire wings and fly away. If a comb falls down, the bees set it up, and put props beneath it, in order that they may be able to pass underneath; for if they have no path by which to approach the place where they sit, the cells become covered with a web.
11. The thieves and the drones do not work, but only injure the other bees, and when taken they are killed by the useful bees. Many of their rulers are also frequently killed, and especially the bad ones, in order that the swarm may not be dispersed by their numbers. They are the more disposed to kill them when the swarm is not fruitful, and no casts are formed. At such times they destroy the royal cells, if any have been prepared, for they are the leaders of the swarm. They destroy also those of the drones, if honey is scarce, or the swarm is short of honey. They fight boldly for their honey with those that would take it from them, and drive out any drones that may be in the hive, and are often seen sitting upon the hives.
12. The small bees fight eagerly with the long kind, and endeavour to drive them from their hives: and if they prevail, it seems to be a sign of a very strong swarm; but if the others conquer, when left alone, they are idle, and do nothing that comes to good, but perish in the course of the autumn. Whenever the useful bees kill any of them, they endeavour to do so outside of the hive; and if any of them die in the hive, they carry them out. Those which are called thieves injure their own combs, and if they can do it in secret, they will enter those of other bees, but if discovered they are killed. It is, however, difficult to enter unperceived, for there are guards placed at each entrance; and if one contrives [Pg 264] to enter unnoticed, he is unable to fly from repletion, and is rolled out before the whole swarm; so that it is difficult to escape.
13. The kings themselves are never seen out of the hives, except with a young swarm, and in young swarms all the rest appear to be collected round him. When a swarm is about to separate, a peculiar and singular noise is made for some days, and for two or three days beforehand a few bees are seen flying round the hive; and if the king is among them he is not seen, for it is not easy to see him. And when they are collected, all the rest fly away and separate themselves with their respective kings: and if a few of them happen to be near at hand, they join themselves with one of the numerous swarms. And if the king that they have left follows them, they kill him. This is the manner of their leaving the hive, and of swarming.
14. They all have their proper work to perform. Some bring flowers, others water, and others polish and erect the cells. Water is brought when they are rearing their young. None of them ever settle upon flesh, nor will they eat anything seasoned. They have no particular time for commencing work, but when they are properly supplied, and in good health, they are particularly diligent during the summer. When the day is fine they work without ceasing, and as soon as the young bees are three days old, they set to work, if properly fed. And when the swarm settles some depart for food, and afterwards return. In healthy swarms the progeny of the bees only cease from reproduction[228] for about forty days after the winter solstice. As soon as the young bees are grown, they offer them food, and smear the cells with it, and as soon as they are strong enough, the young bees rupture the covering of the cell, and so escape.
15. The good kinds of bees destroy any creatures that are produced in their hives and destroy the combs; but the other kinds from their inferiority overlook the destruction of their work. When the dealers in honey take the combs, they leave the bees some food for the winter. If sufficient is left, the swarm is preserved; but if not, they either die in the winter, or, if the weather continues fine, desert the hive. [Pg 265] They eat honey both in summer and in winter. They also lay up another kind of food, which is as hard as wax, which some persons call sandarache.
16. Wasps are very injurious to them, and so is the bird called titmouse, and the swallow, and merops. The frogs also in marshes destroy them when they come for water, for which reason bee-fanciers destroy the frogs in those marshes where the bees come for water. They also destroy wasps' nests, and the nest of the swallow and merops, if near the swarms of bees. They avoid no animal, except those of their own kind. They fight among themselves, and with the wasps. When at a distance from their hives they will neither injure each other, nor any other creature; but when near at home they will destroy everything that they can conquer.
17. When they have stung anything they perish, for they cannot withdraw their sting from the wound without tearing their own entrails; but they are frequently saved, if the person stung will take care to press the sting from the wound: but when its sting is lost, the bee must perish. They will kill even large animals with their stings, and a horse has been known to perish, if attacked by bees. The rulers are the least cruel and stinging.
18. If any bees die in the hive, they carry them out; and in other respects the bee is a very clean creature. For this reason they also eject their excrement when in flight, for the smell is bad. It has been already observed that they dislike bad smells and the scent of unguents, and that they sting persons who use such things. They also die from other causes, as when the rulers in the hive are in great numbers, and each leads out a portion of the swarm. The toad also destroys bees, for it blows into the entrance of the hive, and watches for and destroys them as they fly out. The bees cannot inflict any injury upon it, but their keepers destroy it.
19. Some bee-keepers say that the kind of bee which makes an inferior and rough comb is the young of the others, and that it is the result of imperfect skill. They are young when a year old; young bees do not sting so severely as old bees; for this reason the swarms are carried to the apiaries, for they are those of young bees. When honey is short [Pg 266] they eject the drones, and put figs and other sweet things near them. The elder bees work in the hives, and become hairy from remaining within. The younger ones go out in the fields, and are smoother: and they kill the drones when they have no longer any room for them, for they are placed in a recess of the hive. When a swarm has been weak, strange bees have been known to come and fight with them, and take away their honey; and when the bee-keeper killed them the others came out and defended themselves, and would not injure the man.
20. Other diseases, and especially one called clerus, frequently attack strong swarms. In this disease small worms are produced on the floor of the hive, and as these increase, the whole swarm is held, as it were, in a spider's web, and the combs decay. There is another disease, which is like a wildness in the bees, and causes a strong smell in the hives. The bees should be fed on thyme, the white sort is better than the red. In close weather they should have a cool place, and a warm one in the winter. They suffer the most when they work with materials affected with the rust.
21. When the wind is high, they carry a stone with them for a balance. If a river is at hand they never drink anywhere else, first of all laying down their weight. If no river is near, they drink in some other place, and then vomit up their honey, and again set to work. There are two seasons for making honey, the spring and autumn. That formed in the spring is sweeter, whiter, and, on the whole, better than that formed in autumn. The best honey is made from the new wax and young flowers. The red honey is inferior, on account of the wax; for, like wine, it is injured by the vessel which contains it; this honey therefore should be dried up. When the thyme is in flower, and the comb is full of honey, it does not become inspissated. The gold-coloured honey is also good. The white honey is not formed of pure thyme, but is good for the eyes, and for wounds. Weak honey always floats on the surface, and ought to be separated. The pure honey is beneath.
22. When the woods are in flower the bees form wax; at this season, therefore, the wax ought to be taken from the hive, for they immediately make more. These are the plants from which they collect it, atractyllis, melilot, asphodel, myrtle, phleos, agnus, broom. When they can procure [Pg 267] thyme, they mix water with it before they smear the cells. All the bees emit their excrements either on the wing, as it has been said before, or into a single cell. The small bees, it has been already remarked, are more industrious than the large ones, so that their wings become worn at the edges, and their colour black and burnt, but the bright and shiny bees are idle, like women.
23. Bees also appear to have pleasure in noises, so that they say that they collect them into their hives by striking earthen vessels and making noises. But it is very doubtful whether they hear or not, and if they hear, whether they collect together from pleasure or from fear. The bees drive out all that are idle or wasteful. They divide the work, as it has been already said; some work at the honey, others at the grubs, and others at the bee bread; some, again, form the comb, others carry water to the cells, and mix it with the honey, while others go to work. Early in the morning they are silent, until one bee arouses them by humming two or three times, when they all fly to their work; when they return again there is some disturbance at first, which gradually becomes less, until one of them flies round with a humming noise, as if warning them to sleep, when on a sudden they all become silent.
24. It is a sign that the swarm is strong when there is much noise and movement, as they leave and return to the hive, for they are then busy with the grubs. They are most hungry when they begin to work after winter. They are more idle if the person who takes the honey leaves much behind, but it is necessary that a quantity should be left proportionable to the strength of the swarm, for they work less actively if too little is left; they become more idle if the hive is large, for they despair of their labour. The hive is deprived of a measure or a measure and a half of honey; if it is strong, two or two measures and a half. Some few will afford three measures.
25. Sheep and wasps, as it was said above, are hostile to bees. The bee fanciers, therefore, catch the wasps in pans, in which they place pieces of flesh; when many have fallen in, they put on a lid and put them in the fire. It is good for the bees to have a few drones among them, for it makes them more industrious. Bees discern the approach of cold [Pg 268] weather and of rain; this is plain, for they will not leave the hive, but even if the day is fine are occupied in the hive. By this the bee keepers know that they expect severe weather.
26. When they are suspended upon each other in the hive, it is a sign that the swarm is about to leave; and when the bee keepers see this, they sprinkle them with sweet wine. They usually plant about the hive the achras, beans, poa medica, syria, ochrus, myrtle, poppy, herypllus, almond. Some bee keepers recognize their own bees in the fields by sprinkling them with flour. When the spring is late or dry, and when rust is about, the bees are less diligent about their young. This, then, is the nature of bees.
1. There are two kinds of wasps, of which the wild sort are rare; they are found in mountains, and do not build their nest in the ground, but on oak trees; in form they are larger, longer, and darker than the other sort; they are variegated, all of them have stings, and are strong, and their sting is more painful than that of the other sorts, for their sting is larger in proportion to their size. These live for two years, and in winter are observed to fly out of trees, when they are cut down; during winter they live in holes. Their place of concealment is in trees; some of them are mother wasps, and some workers, as in those which are more domestic; the nature of the workers and the mother wasps will be explained when we come to speak of the more domestic kind.
2. For there are two kinds of the domestic wasps, the rulers, which they call mother wasps, and the workers; the rulers are larger and more gentle, and the workers do not survive the year, but all of them die, on the arrival of winter. This is plain, for at the beginning of winter the workers become stupid, and about the solstice are seen no more; but the rulers, which are called mother wasps, are seen during the whole of the winter, and bury themselves in the earth; for in ploughing and digging during the winter, the mother wasps have been frequently observed, but no one has ever seen a worker.
3. The following is the manner of their reproduction: [Pg 269] when the rulers have found a place properly situated, at the beginning of summer, they form their combs and build the wasps nests, as they are called; these are small, with four holes, or thereabouts; in these working wasps are produced, and not mother wasps. When these are grown, they afterwards build larger nests, and again larger still, as the swarm increases, so at the end of autumn the nests are very numerous and large, and in these the mother wasps no longer produce workers but mothers. These larger maggots are produced on the top of the upper part of the nest, in four or rather more adjoining cells, very like those of the rulers in their combs. When the working wasps are produced in the combs, the rulers no longer labour, but the workers bring them food; this is evident, from the rulers never flying away from the workers, but remaining quietly within.
4. Whether the rulers of the previous year, when they have produced new rulers, die at the same time as the young wasps, or whether they survive a longer period, no one has ever observed, nor has anyone ever observed the old age of the mother wasps, or of the wild wasps, or any other of their affections. The mother wasp is broad and heavy, and thicker, and larger than the working wasp, and her weight prevents her from being very active in flight, neither can she fly far, but always sits in the wasps' nests, and fashions and arranges the internal parts.
5. There are generally mother wasps in the nests, but there is some doubt whether they have stings or not; they seem, however, like the rulers among the bees, to have stings, though they never put them out nor sting; some wasps, like the drones, are without stings, others have a sting. Those that are without stings are smaller, and not so angry, neither do they defend themselves; those which are furnished with a sting are larger, and strong; some call these the males, and those which have no sting the females. Towards winter many of those that have stings appear to lose them, though we have never met with eye-witnesses of this circumstance.
6. Wasps are more abundant in dry seasons and rough places; they are produced beneath the earth, they make their combs of collected materials and of earth, each springing [Pg 270] from one origin, as if from a root. They procure their food from some flowers and fruits, but generally, they are carnivorous. Some persons have observed them in the act of sexual intercourse, but whether one or both had stings or not, was not seen. Some wild wasps also have been seen in the act of intercourse, one of them had a sting, whether the other had was not observed. Their offspring does not seem to be produced from this intercourse, but is always larger than the offspring of the wasp should be.
7. If a person takes hold of the legs of a wasp, and permits it to buzz with its wings, those that have no stings will fly towards him, which those with stings will not do, and some persons consider this to be a sign that the one are males, the other females. Some are taken in caverns during the winter with stings, and others without them. Some of them make small nests and few in number; others make many large nests. Many of those called mother wasps are taken at the turn of the season in the neighbourhood of elms, for they collect the sticky and glutinous matter. There are a great many mother wasps, when wasps have been abundant during the previous year, and the weather rainy. They are captured in the neighbourhood of precipitous places and straight fissures in the earth, and all appear to have stings. This, then, is the nature of wasps.
1. The wild bees do not live by gathering honey from flowers like the bees, but are entirely carnivorous, for which reason they frequent the neighbourhood of dung; for they pursue large flies, and when they have taken them they tear off the head and fly away, carrying the rest of the body with them. They will also eat sweet fruit. This, then, is the nature of their food. They have rulers, like the bees and wasps; and in proportion to the size of the wild bee these rulers are larger than those of the bees and wasps. Their rulers also keep in the nest, like those of the wasps.
2. The wild bees make their nest under the soil, which they remove like the ants. They never swarm like bees, neither do wasps; but the young ones always remain with them, and as the nest increases they carry out the heap of earth. The nests become large; and from a flourishing nest three or [Pg 271] four baskets of comb have been taken. They do not lay up any food like bees, but conceal themselves during the winter. The greater number of them die, but it is not known whether all of them perish. There is never more than one ruler in the nest as in the swarm of bees, or they would divide the nest.
3. When some of the wild bees wander from the nest, they turn aside to some material and form another nest, such as are often seen on the surface of the soil, and in this they work themselves out a ruler; and when he is grown he goes out and leads them with him to take possession of a nest, in which they may dwell. No one has ever made any observation on the mode of sexual intercourse in the wild bee, nor on the origin of their offspring. Among bees the drones and kings have no stings, and some of the wasps also are without stings, as it has been remarked already; but all the wild bees appear to have stings, but more accurate inquiry should be instituted as to the rulers, whether they have stings or not.
The humble bees produce their young under stones on the surface of the ground in two or a few more cells. The commencement of a kind of inferior honey is found in them. The tenthredo is like the wild bee, but it is variegated, and as broad as the bee. It is a dainty creature, and the only one which resorts to kitchens, and enjoys fish and such like things. It deposits its young under the earth like the wasps. It is a very productive creature, and its nest is much larger and longer than that of the wasp. This is the nature of the work and economy of bees, wasps, and their congeners.
1. It has been already observed that we can distinguish a difference in the dispositions of animals, especially in the courage and cowardice, and then in their mildness and fierceness, even in wild animals. The lion in his manner of feeding is very cruel; but when he is not hungry, and is full fed, his disposition is gentle. He is not either jealous or suspicious. He is fond of playing with and affectionate towards those animals which have been brought up with him, and to [Pg 272] which he has become accustomed. When hunted, he has never been seen to retreat or be alarmed; and if compelled to yield to the numbers of his hunters, he retreats slowly and leisurely, and turns himself round at short intervals. If overtaken in a thicket, he flies rapidly till he reaches the open plain, and then again he withdraws slowly. If compelled by numbers to retreat openly on the plain ground, he runs at full stretch, and does not leap. His manner of running is continuous, like that of a dog at full stretch. When pursuing his prey, he throws himself upon it when he comes within reach.
2. It is, however, true, as they say, that the lion is afraid of the fire, as Homer also writes, "The burning faggots which he fears when urged against him;" and that he observes the person who strikes him and attacks him; and if a person aims a blow at him without hitting him, the lion, if he can rush upon and seize him, does not do him any injury, nor tear him with his claws, but shakes and frightens him, and then leaves him. They are more disposed to enter towns and attack mankind when they grow old; for old age renders them unable to hunt, from the disease which attacks their teeth. They live many years; and a lame lion has been captured which had many of its teeth broken, which some persons considered as a sign that it had lived many years. For this could not have happened except by the lapse of time.
3. There are two kinds of lions. One of these has a round body and more curly hair, and is a more cowardly animal. The other is of a longer form, has straight hair, and is more courageous. Sometimes, when retreating, they stretch out their tails like dogs; and a lion has been at times observed, when about to attack a hog, to retreat when that animal erected its bristles. The lion is weak if struck in the belly, but will bear many blows on other parts of the body, and its head is very strong. If they bite or tear anything, a large quantity of yellow serum flows from the wound, which can never be stopped by bandages or sponges. The mode of healing is the same as in the bite of a dog.
4. The jackal is an animal attached to mankind. It does not injure men, nor is it much afraid of them, but it will fight with the dog and the lion. They are not, therefore, [Pg 273] found in the same locality. The small jackal is the best. Some persons say that there are two, others that there are three sorts; but, like some fish, birds, and quadrupeds, the jackal changes at different seasons, and has a different colour in summer and in winter. In summer it is smooth; in winter, rough.
1. The bonassus is found in Ponia, in Mount Messapius, which forms the boundary between Ponia and Mdia. The Ponians call it monapus. It is as large as a bull, and more heavily built; for it is not a long animal, and its skin, when stretched out, will cover a couch for seven persons to recline upon. In form it resembles a bull, but it has a mane as far as the point of the shoulder like the horse, but its hair is softer than that of the horse, and shorter. The colour of its hair is red. The hair is deep and thick as far down as the eyes, and in colour between ash-coloured and red, not like that of roan horses, but darker. Its hair below is like wool. They are never either very black or very red.
2. Their voice is like that of the ox. Their horns are crooked and bent together, of no use for defence, a span long or a little more, so thick that each of them would hold half a measure or a little more. The black part of their horn is good and smooth. The fore lock is so placed between the eyes that the creature can look sideways better than forwards. Like the ox, it has no upper teeth in front, neither have any horned animals. Its legs are rough and its hoofs cloven. Its tail is small in proportion to its size, like that of the ox, and it tears up the ground and digs with its hoof like the bull. The skin upon its sides is strong. Its flesh is excellent food, and for this it is hunted.
3. When wounded it retreats, and stays when it can proceed no farther. It defends itself by kicking and ejecting its dung, which it can do to the distance of four fathoms from itself. It uses this means of defence easily and frequently. Its dung is so caustic as to burn the hair from dogs. The dung is only caustic when the creature is disturbed and alarmed. It is not so when undisturbed. This is the form and nature of this creature. At the season of parturition they collect together in numbers in the mountains, [Pg 274] and make a circle of their dung round the place, as it were a fortification, for this animal ejects a large quantity of this excrement.
Of all wild animals the elephant is the most tame and gentle; for many of them are capable of instruction and intelligence, and they have been taught to worship the king. It is a very sensitive creature, and abounding in intellect. The male never again touches a female that he has once impregnated. Some persons say that the elephant will live for two hundred years, others an hundred and twenty, and the female lives nearly as long as the male. They arrive at perfection when sixty years old. They bear winter and cold weather very badly. It is an animal that lives in the neighbourhood of rivers, though not in them. It can also walk through rivers, and will advance as long as it can keep its proboscis above the surface; for it blows and breathes through this organ, but it cannot swim on account of the weight of its body.
Camels refuse to have sexual intercourse with their dams, even when forced; for once a camel driver, who was in want of a male camel, veiled the dam and introduced her young to her. When the covering fell off in the act of copulation, he finished what he was about, and soon afterwards bit the camel driver to death. It is said also that the king of Scythia had an excellent mare, which always produced good colts. He wished to have a colt out of the mare by the best of these horses, and introduced him for copulation, but he would not do it. When she was covered up, however, he performed the act unwittingly. As soon as the form of the mare was shown after copulation, and the horse saw what was done, he ran away and threw himself down a precipice.
1. Among marine animals there are many instances reported of the mild, gentle disposition of the dolphin, and of its love of its children, and its affection, in the neighbourhood [Pg 275] of Tarentum, Caria, and other places. It is said that when a dolphin was captured and wounded on the coast of Caria, so great a number came up to the harbour, that the fishermen let him go, when they all went away together. And one large dolphin, it is said, always follows the young ones, to take care of them; and sometimes a herd of large and small dolphins has been seen together, and two of these having left appeared soon after, supporting and carrying on their back a small dead dolphin, that was ready to sink, as if in pity for it, that it might not be devoured by any other wild creature.
2. Some incredible things are also told of their swiftness, for it appears to be the swiftest of all animals, whether marine or terrestrial. They will leap over the sails of large ships. This is especially the case when they pursue a fish for the sake of food; for their hunger will make them pursue their prey into the depths of the sea, if it retreats to the bottom. And when they have to return from a great depth, they hold their breath, as if they were reckoning the distance, and then they gather themselves up, and dart forward like an arrow, desirous of shortening their distance from a breathing-place. And if they meet with a ship they will throw themselves over its sails. Divers also do the same thing when they have sunk themselves into deep water, for they also gather up their strength in order to rise to the surface. The males and females live in pairs with each other. There is some doubt as to the reason why they cast themselves on the land, for they say that sometimes they appear to do this without any cause.
1. As the actions of all animals agree with their dispositions, so also their dispositions will change with their actions, and some of their parts also. This takes place among birds; for hens, when they have conquered the cock, desire to copulate with others, and their crest and rump become elevated, so that it is difficult to say whether they are hens or not. In some, also, small spurs are found; and some males, after the death of the female, have been seen to take the same care of the young as the female would have done, leading them [Pg 276] about and feeding them, and neither crowing, nor desiring sexual intercourse. And some male birds have been seen to be so effeminate from their birth, that they neither crowed, nor desired sexual intercourse, and would submit themselves to any males that desired them.
3. Many birds at particular seasons change both their colour and their voice, as the blackbird, which becomes russet instead of black, and assumes another voice, for it sings in the summer time, but in winter it chatters and screams violently. The thrush also alters its colour, for in winter it is grey, and in summer is variegated on the neck; but its voice does not alter. The nightingale sings unceasingly for fifteen days and nights, when the mountains become thick with leaves. As the summer advances it utters another voice, not quick and varied, but simple; its colour also is altered, and in Italy it is called by another name at this season of the year. It only shews itself for a short time, for it lies concealed.
3. The erithacus, and the bird called phnicurus, are changed one into the other. The erithacus is a winter bird, the phnicurus a summer bird; they differ in nothing but the colour. The sycalis and melancoryphus are the same, for these also are interchanged. The sycalis is found in the autumn, and the melancoryphus immediately after the end of the autumn. They also differ from each other in nothing but their colour and voice, and to prove that it is the same bird, each kind has been seen immediately after the change took place; and when the change was not quite complete, there was nothing characteristic of either form. Nor is it absurd to suppose that these birds change their voices or their colours, for the dove utters no sound in the winter, unless it may be on a fine day in a severe winter, when it will utter its sound to the astonishment of those that know its habits; and as soon as spring commences, it begins to utter its voice: and, on the whole, birds make the greatest number and variety of voices at the season of coition.
4. The cuckoo also changes its colour, and its voice is not distinct, when it is about to leave us. It goes away about the time when the dog-star rises, it having been with us from the commencement of spring to that time. The nanthe, as it is called, disappears when Sirius rises, and [Pg 277] comes again when it sets, for sometimes it retreats before the cold, and sometimes before the heat. The hoopoe also changes its colour and its forms, as schylus writes. "He had variegated this hoopoe, the witness of its own evils, and has displayed the bold bird that dwells in the rock in all armour. In the early spring it shakes the feathers of the white hawk; for it has two forms, that of the young bird and of itself, from one origin. And when the young corn of the harvest begins to grow, it is clothed in spotted feathers; and it always hates this place of Pallene, and inhabits deserted forests and mountains."
5. Some birds dust themselves, and others bathe. Some neither dust nor bathe. Those that do not fly, but live on the ground, dust themselves, as the domestic fowl, partridge, grouse, lark, and pheasant. Those birds which have straight claws, and live near rivers, marshes, and the sea, bathe themselves. Some, like the pigeon and sparrow, both dust and bathe. Most of those with crooked claws do neither the one nor the other. This is their nature in these matters. The act of breaking wind backwards is peculiar to some birds, as the turtle. Such birds make a strong motion with their rumps when they utter their voice.
1. Animals not only change their forms and dispositions at particular ages and seasons, but also when castrated. All animals that have testicles may be castrated. Birds and oviparous quadrupeds have internal testicles near their loins. In viviparous animals with feet, they are generally external, though sometimes internal; in all they are situated at the extremity of the abdomen. Birds are castrated near the rump, the part with which they touch the female in copulation, for if they are burnt in that part two or three times with irons after they are full grown, the comb turns yellow, and they cease to crow, and no longer desire sexual intercourse. If they are not full grown, these parts never reach perfection.
2. The same is the case with the human subject, for if a boy is castrated, the hair that is produced after birth never appears, nor does his voice change, but continues sharp; but if a full grown man is castrated, all the hair produced [Pg 278] after birth falls off except that on the pubes, this becomes weaker, but still remains. The hair produced at birth does not fall off, for the eunuch never becomes bald. The voice also of castrated animals changes to that of the female. Other animals, if not castrated when young, are destroyed by the operation; with the boar it makes no difference. All animals, if castrated when young, become larger and more graceful than those not castrated; but if already grown, they never become any larger.
8. If stags are castrated before they are old enough to have horns, these never appear; but if castrated after they have horns, their size never varies, nor are they subject to their annual change. Calves are castrated at a year old, if not they become bad and inferior. The steer is castrated in this manner: they lay down the animal and cut the scrotum, and press out the testicles; they next contract the root of the testicle as much as possible, and fill up the wound with hair in order that the discharge may escape, and if it inflames, they cauterize and sprinkle the scrotum. If adult bulls are castrated, they are still apparently capable of sexual intercourse.
4. The capria of the sow is also cut out, so that they should not desire coition, but fatten rapidly. They are cut after fasting two days. They hang them up by the hind legs and make an incision in the lower part of the belly, where the testicles of the male are generally found; the capria is there formed upon the matrix, from which they cut off a portion, and sew up the wound again.
5. The female camels also are cut when they wish to take them to war, that they may not become pregnant. Some of those in the upper parts of Asia possess as many as three thousand. Such camels, when they run, are far more swift than the Nisan horses, from the length of their stretch. And on the whole, castrated animals are longer-bodied than those not castrated.
6. All animals that ruminate, derive as much use and pleasure from rumination as from eating. Animals that have not cutting-teeth in both jaws ruminate, as the ox, sheep, and goat. No observations have been made on wild animals except those which occasionally associate with men, as the stag, though this animal ruminates. They all lie down [Pg 279] to ruminate, and do so most in the winter; those which are brought up in shelter ruminate for nearly seven months. Those that live in herds, ruminate for a shorter period, for they live out of doors. Some animals with cutting teeth in both jaws, ruminate, as the Pontic mice and the fish, which, from this process, is called meryx. Animals with long legs have loose bellies, and those with broad chests vomit more easily than others, in quadrupeds, birds, and the generality of mankind.
