No More Learning

Now all other animals bring the time of pregnancy to an end in a
uniform way; in other words, one single term of pregnancy is defined
for each of them. But in the case of mankind alone of all animals
the times are diverse; for pregnancy may be of seven months' duration,
or of eight months or of nine, and still more commonly of ten
months, while some few women go even into the eleventh month.

Children that come into the world before seven months can
under no circumstances survive. The seven-months' children are the
earliest that are capable of life, and most of them are weakly-for
which reason, by the way, it is customary to swaddle them in wool,-and
many of them are born with some of the orifices of the body
imperforate, for instance the ears or the nostrils. But as they get
bigger they become more perfectly developed, and many of them grow up.

In Egypt, and in some other places where the women are
fruitful and are wont to bear and bring forth many children without
difficulty, and where the children when born are capable of living
even if they be born subject to deformity, in these places the
eight-months' children live and are brought up, but in Greece it is
only a few of them that survive while most perish. And this being
the general experience, when such a child does happen to survive the
mother is apt to think that it was not an eight months' child after
all, but that she had conceived at an earlier period without being
aware of it.

Women suffer most pain about the fourth and the eighth months, and
if the foetus perishes in the fourth or in the eighth month the mother
also succumbs as a general rule; so that not only do the eight-months'
children not live, but when they die their mothers are in great danger
of their own lives. In like manner children that are apparently born
at a later term than eleven months are held to be in doubtful case;
inasmuch as with them also the beginning of conception may have
escaped the notice of the mother. What I mean to say is that often the
womb gets filled with wind, and then when at a later period
connexion and conception take place, they think that the former
circumstance was the beginning of conception from the similarity of
the symptoms that they experienced.

Such then are the differences between mankind and other
animals in regard to the many various modes of completion of the
term of pregnancy. Furthermore, some animals produce one and some
produce many at a birth, but the human species does sometimes the
one and sometimes the other. As a general rule and among most
nations the women bear one child a birth; but frequently and in many
lands they bear twins, as for instance in Egypt especially.
Sometimes women bring forth three and even four children, and
especially in certain parts of the world, as has already been
stated. The largest number ever brought forth is five, and such an
occurrence has been witnessed on several occasions. There was once
upon a time a certain women who had twenty children at four births;
each time she had five, and most of them grew up.

Now among other animals, if a pair of twins happen to be male
and female they have as good a chance of surviving as though both
had been males or both females; but among mankind very few twins
survive if one happen to be a boy and the other a girl.

Of all animals the woman and the mare are most inclined to
receive the commerce of the male during pregnancy; while all other
animals when they are pregnant avoid the male, save those in which the
phenomenon of superfoetation occurs, such as the hare. Unlike that
animal, the mare after once conceiving cannot be rendered pregnant
again, but brings forth one foal only, at least as a general rule;
in the human species cases of superfoetation are rare, but they do
happen now and then.

An embryo conceived some considerable time after a previous
conception does not come to perfection, but gives rise to pain and
causes the destruction of the earlier embryo; and, by the way, a
case has been known to occur where owing to this destructive influence
no less than twelve embryos conceived by superfoetation have been
discharged. But if the second conception take place at a short
interval, then the mother bears that which was later conceived, and
brings forth the two children like actual twins, as happened,
according to the legend, in the case of Iphicles and Hercules. The
following also is a striking example: a certain woman, having
committed adultery, brought forth the one child resembling her husband
and the other resembling the adulterous lover.

The case has also occurred where a woman, being pregnant of twins,
has subsequently conceived a third child; and in course of time she
brought forth the twins perfect and at full term, but the third a
five-months' child; and this last died there and then. And in
another case it happened that the woman was first delivered of a
seven-months' child, and then of two which were of full term; and of
these the first died and the other two survived.

Some also have been known to conceive while about to miscarry, and
they have lost the one child and been delivered of the other.

If women while going with child cohabit after the eighth month the
child is in most cases born covered over with a slimy fluid. Often
also the child is found to be replete with food of which the mother
had partaken.

5

When women have partaken of salt in overabundance their children
are apt to be born destitute of nails.

Milk that is produced earlier than the seventh month is unfit
for use; but as soon as the child is fit to live the milk is fit to
use. The first of the milk is saltish, as it is likewise with sheep.
Most women are sensibly affected by wine during pregnancy, for if they
partake of it they grow relaxed and debilitated.

The beginning of child-bearing in women and of the capacity to
procreate in men, and the cessation of these functions in both
cases, coincide in the one case with the emission of seed and in the
other with the discharge of the catamenia: with this qualification
that there is a lack of fertility at the commencement of these
symptoms, and again towards their close when the emissions become
scanty and weak. The age at which the sexual powers begin has been
related already. As for their end, the menstrual discharges ceases
in most women about their fortieth year; but with those in whom it
goes on longer it lasts even to the fiftieth year, and women of that
age have been known to bear children. But beyond that age there is
no case on record.

6

Men in most cases continue to be sexually competent until they are
sixty years old, and if that limit be overpassed then until seventy
years; and men have been actually known to procreate children at
seventy years of age. With many men and many women it so happens
that they are unable to produce children to one another, while they
are able to do so in union with other individuals. The same thing
happens with regard to the production of male and female offspring;
for sometimes men and women in union with one another produce male
children or female, as the case may be, but children of the opposite
sex when otherwise mated. And they are apt to change in this respect
with advancing age: for sometimes a husband and wife while they are
young produce female children and in later life male children; and
in other cases the very contrary occurs. And just the same thing is
true in regard to the generative faculty: for some while young are
childless, but have children when they grow older; and some have
children to begin with, and later on no more.

There are certain women who conceive with difficulty, but if
they do conceive, bring the child to maturity; while others again
conceive readily, but are unable to bring the child to birth.
Furthermore, some men and some women produce female offspring and some
male, as for instance in the story of Hercules, who among all his
two and seventy children is said to have begotten but one girl.
Those women who are unable to conceive, save with the help of
medical treatment or some other adventitious circumstance, are as a
general rule apt to bear female children rather than male.

It is a common thing with men to be at first sexually
competent and afterwards impotent, and then again to revert to their
former powers.

From deformed parents come deformed children, lame from lame and
blind from blind, and, speaking generally, children often inherit
anything that is peculiar in their parents and are born with similar
marks, such as pimples or scars. Such things have been known to be
handed down through three generations; for instance, a certain man had
a mark on his arm which his son did not possess, but his grandson
had it in the same spot though not very distinct.

Such cases, however, are few; for the children of cripples are
mostly sound, and there is no hard and fast rule regarding them. While
children mostly resemble their parents or their ancestors, it
sometimes happens that no such resemblance is to be traced. But
parents may pass on resemblance after several generations, as in the
case of the woman in Elis, who committed adultery with a negro; in
this case it was not the woman's own daughter but the daughter's child
that was a blackamoor.

As a rule the daughters have a tendency to take after the
mother, and the boys after the father; but sometimes it is the other
way, the boys taking after the mother and the girls after the
father. And they may resemble both parents in particular features.

There have been known cases of twins that had no resemblance
to one another, but they are alike as a general rule. There was once
upon a time a woman who had intercourse with her husband a week
after giving birth to a child and she conceived and bore a second
child as like the first as any twin. Some women have a tendency to
produce children that take after themselves, and others children
that take after the husband; and this latter case is like that of
the celebrated mare in Pharsalus, that got the name of the Honest
Wife.

7

In the emission of sperm there is a preliminary discharge of
air, and the outflow is manifestly caused by a blast of air; for
nothing is cast to a distance save by pneumatic pressure. After the
seed reaches the womb and remains there for a while, a membrane
forms around it; for when it happens to escape before it is distinctly
formed, it looks like an egg enveloped in its membrane after removal
of the eggshell; and the membrane is full of veins.

All animals whatsoever, whether they fly or swim or walk upon
dry land, whether they bring forth their young alive or in the egg,
develop in the same way: save only that some have the navel attached
to the womb, namely the viviparous animals, and some have it
attached to the egg, and some to both parts alike, as in a certain
sort of fishes. And in some cases membranous envelopes surround the
egg, and in other cases the chorion surrounds it. And first of all the
animal develops within the innermost envelope, and then another
membrane appears around the former one, which latter is for the most
part attached to the womb, but is in part separated from it and
contains fluid. In between is a watery or sanguineous fluid, which the
women folk call the forewaters.

8

All animals, or all such as have a navel, grow by the navel. And
the navel is attached to the cotyledon in all such as possess
cotyledons, and to the womb itself by a vein in all such as have the
womb smooth. And as regards their shape within the womb, the
four-footed animals all lie stretched out, and the footless animals
lie on their sides, as for instance fishes; but two-legged animals lie
in a bent position, as for instance birds; and human embryos lie bent,
with nose between the knees and eyes upon the knees, and the ears free
at the sides.

All animals alike have the head upwards to begin with; but as
they grow and approach the term of egress from the womb they turn
downwards, and birth in the natural course of things takes place in
all animals head foremost; but in abnormal cases it may take place
in a bent position, or feet foremost.

The young of quadrupeds when they are near their full time
contain excrements, both liquid and in the form of solid lumps, the
latter in the lower part of the bowel and the urine in the bladder.

In those animals that have cotyledons in the womb the cotyledons
grow less as the embryo grows bigger, and at length they disappear
altogether. The navel-string is a sheath wrapped about blood-vessels
which have their origin in the womb, from the cotyledons in those
animals which possess them and from a blood-vessel in those which do
not. In the larger animals, such as the embryos of oxen, the vessels
are four in number, and in smaller animals two; in the very little
ones, such as fowls, one vessel only.

Of the four vessels that run into the embryo, two pass through
the liver where the so-called gates or 'portae' are, running in the
direction of the great vein, and the other two run in the direction of
the aorta towards the point where it divides and becomes two vessels
instead of one. Around each pair of blood-vessels are membranes, and
surrounding these membranes is the navel-string itself, after the
manner of a sheath. And as the embryo grows, the veins themselves tend
more and more to dwindle in size. And also as the embryo matures it
comes down into the hollow of the womb and is observed to move here,
and sometimes rolls over in the vicinity of the groin.

9

When women are in labour, their pains determine towards many
divers parts of the body, and in most cases to one or other of the
thighs. Those are the quickest to be delivered who experience severe
pains in the region of the belly; and parturition is difficult in
those who begin by suffering pain in the loins, and speedy when the
pain is abdominal. If the child about to be born be a male, the
preliminary flood is watery and pale in colour, but if a girl it is
tinged with blood, though still watery. In some cases of labour
these latter phenomena do not occur, either one way or the other.

In other animals parturition is unaccompanied by pain, and the
dam is plainly seen to suffer but moderate inconvenience. In women,
however, the pains are more severe, and this is especially the case in
persons of sedentary habits, and in those who are weak-chested and
short of breath. Labour is apt to be especially difficult if during
the process the woman while exerting force with her breath fails to
hold it in.

First of all, when the embryo starts to move and the membranes
burst, there issues forth the watery flood; then afterwards comes
the embryo, while the womb everts and the afterbirth comes out from
within.

10

The cutting of the navel-string, which is the nurse's duty, is a
matter calling for no little care and skill. For not only in cases
of difficult labour must she be able to render assistance with skilful
hand, but she must also have her wits about her in all
contingencies, and especially in the operation of tying the cord.
For if the afterbirth have come away, the navel is ligatured off
from the afterbirth with a woollen thread and is then cut above the
ligature; and at the place where it has been tied it heals up, and the
remaining portion drops off. (If the ligature come loose the child
dies from loss of blood. ) But if the afterbirth has not yet come away,
but remains after the child itself is extruded, it is cut away
within after the ligaturing of the cord.

It often happens that the child appears to have been born dead
when it is merely weak, and when before the umbilical cord has been
ligatured, the blood has run out into the cord and its surroundings.
But experienced midwives have been known to squeeze back the blood
into the child's body from the cord, and immediately the child that
a moment before was bloodless came back to life again.

It is the natural rule, as we have mentioned above, for all
animals to come into the world head foremost, and children,
moreover, have their hands stretched out by their sides. And the child
gives a cry and puts its hands up to its mouth as soon as it issues
forth.

Moreover the child voids excrement sometimes at once,
sometimes a little later, but in all cases during the first day; and
this excrement is unduly copious in comparison with the size of the
child; it is what the midwives call the meconium or 'poppy-juice'.
In colour it resembles blood, extremely dark and pitch-like, but later
on it becomes milky, for the child takes at once to the breast. Before
birth the child makes no sound, even though in difficult labour it put
forth its head while the rest of the body remains within.

In cases where flooding takes place rather before its time, it
is apt to be followed by difficult parturition. But if discharge
take place after birth in small quantity, and in cases where it only
takes place at the beginning and does not continue till the fortieth
day, then in such cases women make a better recovery and are the
sooner ready to conceive again.

Until the child is forty days old it neither laughs nor weeps
during waking hours, but of nights it sometimes does both; and for the
most part it does not even notice being tickled, but passes most of
its time in sleep. As it keeps on growing, it gets more and more
wakeful; and moreover it shows signs of dreaming, though it is long
afterwards before it remembers what it dreams.

In other animals there is no contrasting difference between one
bone and another, but all are properly formed; but in children the
front part of the head is soft and late of ossifying. And by the
way, some animals are born with teeth, but children begin to cut their
teeth in the seventh month; and the front teeth are the first to
come through, sometimes the upper and sometimes the lower ones. And
the warmer the nurses' milk so much the quicker are the children's
teeth to come.

11

After parturition and the cleasing flood the milk comes in plenty,
and in some women it flows not only from the nipples but at divers
parts of the breasts, and in some cases even from the armpits. And for
some time afterwards there continue to be certain indurated parts of
the breast called strangalides, or 'knots', which occur when it so
happens that the moisture is not concocted, or when it finds no outlet
but accumulates within. For the whole breast is so spongy that if a
woman in drinking happen to swallow a hair, she gets a pain in her
breast, which ailment is called 'trichia'; and the pain lasts till the
hair either find its own way out or be sucked out with the milk. Women
continue to have milk until their next conception; and then the milk
stops coming and goes dry, alike in the human species and in the
quadrupedal vivipara. So long as there is a flow of milk the
menstrual purgations do not take place, at least as a general rule,
though the discharge has been known to occur during the period of
suckling. For, speaking generally, a determination of moisture does
not take place at one and the same time in several directions; as
for instance the menstrual purgations tend to be scanty in persons
suffering from haemorrhoids. And in some women the like happens
owing to their suffering from varices, when the fluids issue from
the pelvic region before entering into the womb. And patients who
during suppression of the menses happen to vomit blood are no whit the
worse.

12

Children are very commonly subject to convulsions, more especially
such of them as are more than ordinarily well-nourished on rich or
unusually plentiful milk from a stout nurse. Wine is bad for
infants, in that it tends to excite this malady, and red wine is worse
than white, especially when taken undiluted; and most things that tend
to induce flatulency are also bad, and constipation too is
prejudicial. The majority of deaths in infancy occur before the
child is a week old, hence it is customary to name the child at that
age, from a belief that it has now a better chance of survival. This
malady is worst at the full of the moon; and by the way, it is a
dangerous symptom when the spasms begin in the child's back.

Book VIII

1

WE have now discussed the physical characteristics of animals
and their methods of generation. Their habits and their modes of
living vary according to their character and their food.

In the great majority of animals there are traces of psychical
qualities or attitudes, which qualities are more markedly
differentiated in the case of human beings. For just as we pointed out
resemblances in the physical organs, so in a number of animals we
observe gentleness or fierceness, mildness or cross temper, courage,
or timidity, fear or confidence, high spirit or low cunning, and, with
regard to intelligence, something equivalent to sagacity. Some of
these qualities in man, as compared with the corresponding qualities
in animals, differ only quantitatively: that is to say, a man has more
or less of this quality, and an animal has more or less of some other;
other qualities in man are represented by analogous and not
identical qualities: for instance, just as in man we find knowledge,
wisdom, and sagacity, so in certain animals there exists some other
natural potentiality akin to these. The truth of this statement will
be the more clearly apprehended if we have regard to the phenomena
of childhood: for in children may be observed the traces and seeds
of what will one day be settled psychological habits, though
psychologically a child hardly differs for the time being from an
animal; so that one is quite justified in saying that, as regards
man and animals, certain psychical qualities are identical with one
another, whilst others resemble, and others are analogous to, each
other.

Nature proceeds little by little from things lifeless to
animal life in such a way that it is impossible to determine the exact
line of demarcation, nor on which side thereof an intermediate form
should lie. Thus, next after lifeless things in the upward scale comes
the plant, and of plants one will differ from another as to its amount
of apparent vitality; and, in a word, the whole genus of plants,
whilst it is devoid of life as compared with an animal, is endowed
with life as compared with other corporeal entities. Indeed, as we
just remarked, there is observed in plants a continuous scale of
ascent towards the animal. So, in the sea, there are certain objects
concerning which one would be at a loss to determine whether they be
animal or vegetable. For instance, certain of these objects are fairly
rooted, and in several cases perish if detached; thus the pinna is
rooted to a particular spot, and the solen (or razor-shell) cannot
survive withdrawal from its burrow. Indeed, broadly speaking, the
entire genus of testaceans have a resemblance to vegetables, if they
be contrasted with such animals as are capable of progression.

In regard to sensibility, some animals give no indication
whatsoever of it, whilst others indicate it but indistinctly. Further,
the substance of some of these intermediate creatures is fleshlike, as
is the case with the so-called tethya (or ascidians) and the acalephae
(or sea-anemones); but the sponge is in every respect like a
vegetable. And so throughout the entire animal scale there is a
graduated differentiation in amount of vitality and in capacity for
motion.

A similar statement holds good with regard to habits of life.
Thus of plants that spring from seed the one function seems to be
the reproduction of their own particular species, and the sphere of
action with certain animals is similarly limited. The faculty of
reproduction, then, is common to all alike. If sensibility be
superadded, then their lives will differ from one another in respect
to sexual intercourse through the varying amount of pleasure derived
therefrom, and also in regard to modes of parturition and ways of
rearing their young. Some animals, like plants, simply procreate their
own species at definite seasons; other animals busy themselves also in
procuring food for their young, and after they are reared quit them
and have no further dealings with them; other animals are more
intelligent and endowed with memory, and they live with their
offspring for a longer period and on a more social footing.

The life of animals, then, may be divided into two
acts-procreation and feeding; for on these two acts all their
interests and life concentrate. Their food depends chiefly on the
substance of which they are severally constituted; for the source of
their growth in all cases will be this substance. And whatsoever is in
conformity with nature is pleasant, and all animals pursue pleasure in
keeping with their nature.

2

Animals are also differentiated locally: that is to say, some
live upon dry land, while others live in the water. And this
differentiation may be interpreted in two different ways. Thus, some
animals are termed terrestrial as inhaling air, and others aquatic
as taking in water; and there are others which do not actually take in
these elements, but nevertheless are constitutionally adapted to the
cooling influence, so far as is needful to them, of one element or the
other, and hence are called terrestrial or aquatic though they neither
breathe air nor take in water. Again, other animals are so called from
their finding their food and fixing their habitat on land or in water:
for many animals, although they inhale air and breed on land, yet
derive their food from the water, and live in water for the greater
part of their lives; and these are the only animals to which as living
in and on two elements the term 'amphibious' is applicable. There is
no animal taking in water that is terrestrial or aerial or that
derives its food from the land, whereas of the great number of land
animals inhaling air many get their food from the water; moreover some
are so peculiarly organized that if they be shut off altogether from
the water they cannot possibly live, as for instance, the so-called
sea-turtle, the crocodile, the hippopotamus, the seal, and some of the
smaller creatures, such as the fresh-water tortoise and the frog:
now all these animals choke or drown if they do not from time to
time breathe atmospheric air: they breed and rear their young on dry
land, or near the land, but they pass their lives in water.

But the dolphin is equipped in the most remarkable way of all
animals: the dolphin and other similar aquatic animals, including
the other cetaceans which resemble it; that is to say, the whale,
and all the other creatures that are furnished with a blow-hole. One
can hardly allow that such an animal is terrestrial and terrestrial
only, or aquatic and aquatic only, if by terrestrial we mean an animal
that inhales air, and if by aquatic we mean an animal that takes in
water. For the fact is the dolphin performs both these processes: he
takes in water and discharges it by his blow-hole, and he also inhales
air into his lungs; for, by the way, the creature is furnished with
this organ and respires thereby, and accordingly, when caught in the
nets, he is quickly suffocated for lack of air. He can also live for a
considerable while out of the water, but all this while he keeps up
a dull moaning sound corresponding to the noise made by
air-breathing animals in general; furthermore, when sleeping, the
animal keeps his nose above water, and he does so that he may
breathe the air. Now it would be unreasonable to assign one and the
same class of animals to both categories, terrestrial and aquatic,
seeing that these categories are more or less exclusive of one
another; we must accordingly supplement our definition of the term
'aquatic' or 'marine'. For the fact is, some aquatic animals take in
water and discharge it again, for the same reason that leads
air-breathing animals to inhale air: in other words, with the object
of cooling the blood. Others take in water as incidental to their mode
of feeding; for as they get their food in the water they cannot but
take in water along with their food, and if they take in water they
must be provided with some organ for discharging it. Those blooded
animals, then, that use water for a purpose analogous to respiration
are provided with gills; and such as take in water when catching their
prey, with the blow-hole. Similar remarks are applicable to molluscs
and crustaceans; for again it is by way of procuring food that these
creatures take in water.

Aquatic in different ways, the differences depending on bodily
relation to external temperature and on habit of life, are such
animals on the one hand as take in air but live in water, and such
on the other hand as take in water and are furnished with gills but go
upon dry land and get their living there. At present only one animal
of the latter kind is known, the so-called cordylus or water-newt;
this creature is furnished not with lungs but with gills, but for
all that it is a quadruped and fitted for walking on dry land.

In the case of all these animals their nature appears in some
kind of a way to have got warped, just as some male animals get to
resemble the female, and some female animals the male. The fact is
that animals, if they be subjected to a modification in minute organs,
are liable to immense modifications in their general configuration.
This phenomenon may be observed in the case of gelded animals: only
a minute organ of the animal is mutilated, and the creature passes
from the male to the female form. We may infer, then, that if in the
primary conformation of the embryo an infinitesimally minute but
absolutely essential organ sustain a change of magnitude one way or
the other, the animal will in one case turn to male and in the other
to female; and also that, if the said organ be obliterated altogether,
the animal will be of neither one sex nor the other. And so by the
occurrence of modification in minute organs it comes to pass that
one animal is terrestrial and another aquatic, in both senses of these
terms. And, again, some animals are amphibious whilst other animals
are not amphibious, owing to the circumstance that in their
conformation while in the embryonic condition there got intermixed
into them some portion of the matter of which their subsequent food is
constituted; for, as was said above, what is in conformity with nature
is to every single animal pleasant and agreeable.

Animals then have been categorized into terrestrial and
aquatic in three ways, according to their assumption of air or of
water, the temperament of their bodies, or the character of their
food; and the mode of life of an animal corresponds to the category in
which it is found. That is to say, in some cases the animal depends
for its terrestrial or aquatic nature on temperament and diet
combined, as well as upon its method of respiration; and sometimes
on temperament and habits alone.

Of testaceans, some, that are incapable of motion, subsist on
fresh water, for, as the sea water dissolves into its constituents,
the fresh water from its greater thinness percolates through the
grosser parts; in fact, they live on fresh water just as they were
originally engendered from the same. Now that fresh water is contained
in the sea and can be strained off from it can be proved in a
thoroughly practical way. Take a thin vessel of moulded wax, attach
a cord to it, and let it down quite empty into the sea: in twenty-four
hours it will be found to contain a quantity of water, and the water
will be fresh and drinkable.

Sea-anemones feed on such small fishes as come in their way. The
mouth of this creature is in the middle of its body; and this fact may
be clearly observed in the case of the larger varieties. Like the
oyster it has a duct for the outlet of the residuum; and this duct
is at the top of the animal. In other words, the sea-anemone
corresponds to the inner fleshy part of the oyster, and the stone to
which the one creature clings corresponds to the shell which encases
the other.

The limpet detaches itself from the rock and goes about in quest
of food. Of shell-fish that are mobile, some are carnivorous and
live on little fishes, as for instance, the purple murex-and there can
be no doubt that the purple murex is carnivorous, as it is caught by a
bait of fish; others are carnivorous, but feed also on marine
vegetation.

The sea-turtles feed on shell-fish-for, by the way, their mouths
are extraordinarily hard; whatever object it seizes, stone or other,
it crunches into bits, but when it leaves the water for dry land it
browses on grass). These creatures suffer greatly, and oftentimes
die when they lie on the surface of the water exposed to a scorching
sun; for, when once they have risen to the surface, they find a
difficulty in sinking again.

Crustaceans feed in like manner. They are omnivorous; that is to
say, they live on stones, slime, sea-weed, and excrement-as for
instance the rock-crab-and are also carnivorous. The crawfish or
spiny-lobster can get the better of fishes even of the larger species,
though in some of them it occasionally finds more than its match.
Thus, this animal is so overmastered and cowed by the octopus that
it dies of terror if it become aware of an octopus in the same net
with itself. The crawfish can master the conger-eel, for owing to
the rough spines of the crawfish the eel cannot slip away and elude
its hold. The conger-eel, however, devours the octopus, for owing to
the slipperiness of its antagonist the octopus can make nothing of it.
The crawfish feeds on little fish, capturing them beside its hole or
dwelling place; for, by the way, it is found out at sea on rough and
stony bottoms, and in such places it makes its den. Whatever it
catches, it puts into its mouth with its pincer-like claws, like the
common crab. Its nature is to walk straight forward when it has
nothing to fear, with its feelers hanging sideways; if it be
frightened, it makes its escape backwards, darting off to a great
distance. These animals fight one another with their claws, just as
rams fight with their horns, raising them and striking their
opponents; they are often also seen crowded together in herds. So much
for the mode of life of the crustacean.

Molluscs are all carnivorous; and of molluscs the calamary and
the sepia are more than a match for fishes even of the large
species. The octopus for the most part gathers shellfish, extracts the
flesh, and feeds on that; in fact, fishermen recognize their holes
by the number of shells lying about. Some say that the octopus devours
its own species, but this statement is incorrect; it is doubtless
founded on the fact that the creature is often found with its
tentacles removed, which tentacles have really been eaten off by the
conger.

Fishes, all without exception, feed on spawn in the spawning
season; but in other respects the food varies with the varying
species. Some fishes are exclusively carnivorous, as the cartilaginous
genus, the conger, the channa or Serranus, the tunny, the bass, the
synodon or Dentex, the amia, the sea-perch, and the muraena. The red
mullet is carnivorous, but feeds also on sea-weed, on shell-fish,
and on mud. The grey mullet feeds on mud, the dascyllus on mud and
offal, the scarus or parrot-fish and the melanurus on sea-weed, the
saupe on offal and sea-weed; the saupe feeds also on zostera, and is
the only fish that is captured with a gourd. All fishes devour their
own species, with the single exception of the cestreus or mullet;
and the conger is especially ravenous in this respect. The cephalus
and the mullet in general are the only fish that eat no flesh; this
may be inferred from the facts that when caught they are never found
with flesh in their intestines, and that the bait used to catch them
is not flesh but barley-cake. Every fish of the mullet-kind lives on
sea-weed and sand. The cephalus, called by some the 'chelon', keeps
near in to the shore, the peraeas keeps out at a distance from it, and
feeds on a mucous substance exuding from itself, and consequently is
always in a starved condition. The cephalus lives in mud, and is in
consequence heavy and slimy; it never feeds on any other fish. As it
lives in mud, it has every now and then to make a leap upwards out
of the mud so as to wash the slime from off its body. There is no
creature known to prey upon the spawn of the cephalus, so that the
species is exceedingly numerous; when, however, the is full-grown it
is preyed upon by a number of fishes, and especially by the acharnas
or bass. Of all fishes the mullet is the most voracious and
insatiable, and in consequence its belly is kept at full stretch;
whenever it is not starving, it may be considered as out of condition.
When it is frightened, it hides its head in mud, under the notion that
it is hiding its whole body. The synodon is carnivorous and feeds on
molluscs. Very often the synodon and the channa cast up their stomachs
while chasing smaller fishes; for, be it remembered, fishes have their
stomachs close to the mouth, and are not furnished with a gullet.

Some fishes then, as has been stated, are carnivorous, and
carnivorous only, as the dolphin, the synodon, the gilt-head, the
selachians, and the molluscs. Other fishes feed habitually on mud or
sea-weed or sea-moss or the so-called stalk-weed or growing plants; as
for instance, the phycis, the goby, and the rock-fish; and, by the
way, the only meat that the phycis will touch is that of prawns.
Very often, however, as has been stated, they devour one another,
and especially do the larger ones devour the smaller. The proof of
their being carnivorous is the fact that they can be caught with flesh
for a bait. The mackerel, the tunny, and the bass are for the most
part carnivorous, but they do occasionally feed on sea-weed. The
sargue feeds on the leavings of the trigle or red mullet. The red
mullet burrows in the mud, when it sets the mud in motion and quits
its haunt, the sargue settles down into the place and feeds on what is
left behind, and prevents any smaller fish from settling in the
immediate vicinity.

Of all fishes the so-called scarus, or parrot, wrasse, is the
only one known to chew the cud like a quadruped.

As a general rule the larger fishes catch the smaller ones in
their mouths whilst swimming straight after them in the ordinary
position; but the selachians, the dolphin, and all the cetacea must
first turn over on their backs, as their mouths are placed down below;
this allows a fair chance of escape to the smaller fishes, and,
indeed, if it were not so, there would be very few of the little
fishes left, for the speed and voracity of the dolphin is something
marvellous.

Of eels a few here and there feed on mud and on chance morsels
of food thrown to them; the greater part of them subsist on fresh
water. Eel-breeders are particularly careful to have the water kept
perfectly clear, by its perpetually flowing on to flat slabs of
stone and then flowing off again; sometimes they coat the eel-tanks
with plaster. The fact is that the eel will soon choke if the water is
not clear as his gills are peculiarly small. On this account, when
fishing for eels, they disturb the water. In the river Strymon
eel-fishing takes place at the rising of the Pleiads, because at
this period the water is troubled and the mud raised up by contrary
winds; unless the water be in this condition, it is as well to leave
the eels alone. When dead the eel, unlike the majority of fishes,
neither floats on nor rises to the surface; and this is owing to the
smallness of the stomach. A few eels are supplied with fat, but the
greater part have no fat whatsoever. When removed from the water
they can live for five or six days; for a longer period if north winds
prevail, for a shorter if south winds. If they are removed in summer
from the pools to the tanks they will die; but not so if removed in
the winter. They are not capable of holding out against any abrupt
change; consequently they often die in large numbers when men
engaged in transporting them from one place to another dip them into
water particularly cold. They will also die of suffocation if they
be kept in a scanty supply of water. This same remark will hold good
for fishes in general; for they are suffocated if they be long
confined in a short supply of water, with the water kept
unchanged-just as animals that respire are suffocated if they be
shut up with a scanty supply of air. The eel in some cases lives for
seven or eight years. The river-eel feeds on his own species, on
grass, or on roots, or on any chance food found in the mud. Their
usual feeding-time is at night, and during the day-time they retreat
into deep water. And so much for the food of fishes.

3

Of birds, such as have crooked talons are carnivorous without
exception, and cannot swallow corn or bread-food even if it be put
into their bills in tit-bits; as for instance, the eagle of every
variety, the kite, the two species of hawks, to wit, the dove-hawk and
the sparrow-hawk-and, by the way, these two hawks differ greatly in
size from one another-and the buzzard. The buzzard is of the same size
as the kite, and is visible at all seasons of the year. There is
also the phene (or lammergeier) and the vulture. The phene is larger
than the common eagle and is ashen in colour. Of the vulture there are
two varieties: one small and whitish, the other comparatively large
and rather more ashen-coloured than white. Further, of birds that
fly by night, some have crooked talons, such as the night-raven, the
owl, and the eagle-owl. The eagle-owl resembles the common owl in
shape, but it is quite as large as the eagle. Again, there is the
eleus, the Aegolian owl, and the little horned owl. Of these birds,
the eleus is somewhat larger than the barn-door cock, and the Aegolian
owl is of about the same size as the eleus, and both these birds
hunt the jay; the little horned owl is smaller than the common owl.
All these three birds are alike in appearance, and all three are
carnivorous.

Again, of birds that have not crooked talons some are carnivorous,
such as the swallow. Others feed on grubs, such as the chaffinch,
the sparrow, the 'batis', the green linnet, and the titmouse. Of the
titmouse there are three varieties. The largest is the
finch-titmouse--for it is about the size of a finch; the second has
a long tail, and from its habitat is called the hill-titmouse; the
third resembles the other two in appearance, but is less in size
than either of them. Then come the becca-fico, the black-cap, the
bull-finch, the robin, the epilais, the midget-bird, and the
golden-crested wren. This wren is little larger than a locust, has a
crest of bright red gold, and is in every way a beautiful and graceful
little bird. Then the anthus, a bird about the size of a finch; and
the mountain-finch, which resembles a finch and is of much the same
size, but its neck is blue, and it is named from its habitat; and
lastly the wren and the rook. The above-enumerated birds and the
like of them feed either wholly or for the most part on grubs, but the
following and the like feed on thistles; to wit, the linnet, the
thraupis, and the goldfinch. All these birds feed on thistles, but
never on grubs or any living thing whatever; they live and roost
also on the plants from which they derive their food.

There are other birds whose favourite food consists of insects
found beneath the bark of trees; as for instance, the great and the
small pie, which are nicknamed the woodpeckers. These two birds
resemble one another in plumage and in note, only that the note of the
larger bird is the louder of the two; they both frequent the trunks of
trees in quest of food. There is also the greenpie, a bird about the
size of a turtle-dove, green-coloured all over, that pecks at the bark
of trees with extraordinary vigour, lives generally on the branch of a
tree, has a loud note, and is mostly found in the Peloponnese. There
is another bird called the 'grub-picker' (or tree-creeper), about as
small as the penduline titmouse, with speckled plumage of an ashen
colour, and with a poor note; it is a variety of the woodpecker.

There are other birds that live on fruit and herbage, such as
the wild pigeon or ringdove, the common pigeon, the rock-dove, and the
turtle-dove. The ring-dove and the common pigeon are visible at all
seasons; the turtledove only in the summer, for in winter it lurks
in some hole or other and is never seen. The rock-dove is chiefly
visible in the autumn, and is caught at that season; it is larger than
the common pigeon but smaller than the wild one; it is generally
caught while drinking. These pigeons bring their young ones with
them when they visit this country. All our other birds come to us in
the early summer and build their nests here, and the greater part of
them rear their young on animal food, with the sole exception of the
pigeon and its varieties.

The whole genus of birds may be pretty well divided into such as
procure their food on dry land, such as frequent rivers and lakes, and
such as live on or by the sea.

Of water-birds such as are web-footed live actually on the
water, while such as are split-footed live by the edge of it-and, by
the way, water-birds that are not carnivorous live on water-plants,
(but most of them live on fish), like the heron and the spoonbill that
frequent the banks of lakes and rivers; and the spoonbill, by the way,
is less than the common heron, and has a long flat bill. There are
furthermore the stork and the seamew; and the seamew, by the way, is
ashen-coloured. There is also the schoenilus, the cinclus, and the
white-rump. Of these smaller birds the last mentioned is the
largest, being about the size of the common thrush; all three may be
described as 'wag-tails'. Then there is the scalidris, with plumage
ashen-grey, but speckled. Moreover, the family of the halcyons or
kingfishers live by the waterside. Of kingfishers there are two
varieties; one that sits on reeds and sings; the other, the larger
of the two, is without a note. Both these varieties are blue on the
back. There is also the trochilus (or sandpiper). The halcyon also,
including a variety termed the cerylus, is found near the seaside. The
crow also feeds on such animal life as is cast up on the beach, for
the bird is omnivorous. There are also the white gull, the cepphus,
the aethyia, and the charadrius.

Of web-footed birds, the larger species live on the banks of
rivers and lakes; as the swan, the duck, the coot, the grebe, and
the teal-a bird resembling the duck but less in size-and the
water-raven or cormorant. This bird is the size of a stork, only
that its legs are shorter; it is web-footed and is a good swimmer; its
plumage is black. It roosts on trees, and is the only one of all
such birds as these that is found to build its nest in a tree. Further
there is the large goose, the little gregarious goose, the
vulpanser, the horned grebe, and the penelops. The sea-eagle lives
in the neighbourhood of the sea and seeks its quarry in lagoons.

A great number of birds are omnivorous. Birds of prey feed on
any animal or bird, other than a bird of prey, that they may catch.
These birds never touch one of their own genus, whereas fishes often
devour members actually of their own species.

Birds, as a rule, are very spare drinkers. In fact birds of prey
never drink at all, excepting a very few, and these drink very rarely;
and this last observation is peculiarly applicable to the kestrel. The
kite has been seen to drink, but he certainly drinks very seldom.

4

Animals that are coated with tessellates-such as the lizard and
the other quadrupeds, and the serpents-are omnivorous: at all events
they are carnivorous and graminivorous; and serpents, by the way,
are of all animals the greatest gluttons.

Tessellated animals are spare drinkers, as are also all such
animals as have a spongy lung, and such a lung, scantily supplied with
blood, is found in all oviparous animals. Serpents, by the by, have an
insatiate appetite for wine; consequently, at times men hunt for
snakes by pouring wine into saucers and putting them into the
interstices of walls, and the creatures are caught when inebriated.
Serpents are carnivorous, and whenever they catch an animal they
extract all its juices and eject the creature whole. And, by the
way, this is done by all other creatures of similar habits, as for
instance the spider; only that the spider sucks out the juices of
its prey outside, and the serpent does so in its belly. The serpent
takes any food presented to him, eats birds and animals, and
swallows eggs entire. But after taking his prey he stretches himself
until he stands straight out to the very tip, and then he contracts
and squeezes himself into little compass, so that the swallowed mass
may pass down his outstretched body; and this action on his part is
due to the tenuity and length of his gullet. Spiders and snakes can
both go without food for a long time; and this remark may be
verified by observation of specimens kept alive in the shops of the
apothecaries.

5

Of viviparous quadrupeds such as are fierce and jag-toothed
are without exception carnivorous; though, by the way, it is stated of
the wolf, but of no other animal, that in extremity of hunger it
will eat a certain kind of earth. These carnivorous animals never
eat grass except when they are sick, just as dogs bring on a vomit
by eating grass and thereby purge themselves.

The solitary wolf is more apt to attack man than the wolf that
goes with a pack.

The animal called 'glanus' by some and 'hyaena' by others is
as large as a wolf, with a mane like a horse, only that the hair is
stiffer and longer and extends over the entire length of the chine. It
will lie in wait for a man and chase him, and will inveigle a dog
within its reach by making a noise that resembles the retching noise
of a man vomiting. It is exceedingly fond of putrefied flesh, and will
burrow in a graveyard to gratify this propensity.

The bear is omnivorous. It eats fruit, and is enabled by the
suppleness of its body to climb a tree; it also eats vegetables, and
it will break up a hive to get at the honey; it eats crabs and ants
also, and is in a general way carnivorous. It is so powerful that it
will attack not only the deer but the wild boar, if it can take it
unawares, and also the bull. After coming to close quarters with the
bull it falls on its back in front of the animal, and, when the bull
proceeds to butt, the bear seizes hold of the bull's horns with its
front paws, fastens its teeth into his shoulder, and drags him down to
the ground. For a short time together it can walk erect on its hind
legs. All the flesh it eats it first allows to become carrion.

The lion, like all other savage and jag-toothed animals, is
carnivorous. It devours its food greedily and fiercely, and often
swallows its prey entire without rending it at all; it will then go
fasting for two or three days together, being rendered capable of this
abstinence by its previous surfeit. It is a spare drinker. It
discharges the solid residuum in small quantities, about every other
day or at irregular intervals, and the substance of it is hard and dry
like the excrement of a dog. The wind discharged from off its
stomach is pungent, and its urine emits a strong odour, a phenomenon
which, in the case of dogs, accounts for their habit of sniffing at
trees; for, by the way, the lion, like the dog, lifts its leg to
void its urine. It infects the food it eats with a strong smell by
breathing on it, and when the animal is cut open an overpowering
vapour exhales from its inside.

Some wild quadrupeds feed in lakes and rivers; the seal is the
only one that gets its living on the sea. To the former class of
animals belong the so-called castor, the satyrium, the otter, and
the so-called latax, or beaver. The beaver is flatter than the otter
and has strong teeth; it often at night-time emerges from the water
and goes nibbling at the bark of the aspens that fringe the
riversides. The otter will bite a man, and it is said that whenever it
bites it will never let go until it hears a bone crack. The hair of
the beaver is rough, intermediate in appearance between the hair of
the seal and the hair of the deer.

6

Jag-toothed animals drink by lapping, as do also some animals
with teeth differently formed, as the mouse. Animals whose upper and
lower teeth meet evenly drink by suction, as the horse and the ox; the
bear neither laps nor sucks, but gulps down his drink. Birds, a
rule, drink by suction, but the long necked birds stop and elevate
their heads at intervals; the purple coot is the only one (of the
long-necked birds) that swallows water by gulps.

Horned animals, domesticated or wild, and all such as are not
jag-toothed, are all frugivorous and graminivorous, save under great
stress of hunger. The pig is an exception, it cares little for grass
or fruit, but of all animals it is the fondest of roots, owing to
the fact that its snout is peculiarly adapted for digging them out
of the ground; it is also of all animals the most easily pleased in
the matter of food. It takes on fat more rapidly in proportion to
its size than any other animal; in fact, a pig can be fattened for the
market in sixty days. Pig-dealers can tell the amount of flesh taken
on, by having first weighed the animal while it was being starved.
Before the fattening process begins, the creature must be starved
for three days; and, by the way, animals in general will take on fat
if subjected previously to a course of starvation; after the three
days of starvation, pig-breeders feed the animal lavishly. Breeders in
Thrace, when fattening pigs, give them a drink on the first day;
then they miss one, and then two days, then three and four, until
the interval extends over seven days. The pigs' meat used for
fattening is composed of barley, millet, figs, acorns, wild pears, and
cucumbers. These animals-and other animals that have warm
bellies-are fattened by repose. (Pigs also fatten the better by
being allowed to wallow in mud. They like to feed in batches of the
same age. A pig will give battle even to a wolf. ) If a pig be
weighed when living, you may calculate that after death its flesh will
weigh five-sixths of that weight, and the hair, the blood, and the
rest will weigh the other sixth. When suckling their young,
swinelike all other animals-get attenuated. So much for these animals.

7

Cattle feed on corn and grass, and fatten on vegetables that
tend to cause flatulency, such as bitter vetch or bruised beans or
bean-stalks. The older ones also will fatten if they be fed up after
an incision has been made into their hide, and air blown thereinto.
Cattle will fatten also on barley in its natural state or on barley
finely winnowed, or on sweet food, such as figs, or pulp from the
wine-press, or on elm-leaves. But nothing is so fattening as the
heat of the sun and wallowing in warm waters. If the horns of young
cattle be smeared with hot wax, you may mold them to any shape you
please, and cattle are less subject to disease of the hoof if you
smear the horny parts with wax, pitch, or olive oil. Herded cattle
suffer more when they are forced to change their pasture ground by
frost than when snow is the cause of change. Cattle grow all the
more in size when they are kept from sexual commerce over a number
of years; and it is with a view to growth in size that in Epirus the
so-called Pyrrhic kine are not allowed intercourse with the bull until
they are nine years old; from which circumstance they are nicknamed
the 'unbulled' kine. Of these Pyrrhic cattle, by the way, they say
that there are only about four hundred in the world, that they are the
private property of the Epirote royal family, that they cannot
thrive out of Epirus, and that people elsewhere have tried to rear
them, but without success.

8

Horses, mules, and asses feed on corn and grass, but are
fattened chiefly by drink. Just in proportion as beasts of burden
drink water, so will they more or less enjoy their food, and a place
will give good or bad feeding according as the water is good or bad.
Green corn, while ripening, will give a smooth coat; but such corn
is injurious if the spikes are too stiff and sharp. The first crop
of clover is unwholesome, and so is clover over which ill-scented
water runs; for the clover is sure to get the taint of the water.
Cattle like clear water for drinking; but the horse in this respect
resembles the camel, for the camel likes turbid and thick water, and
will never drink from a stream until he has trampled it into a
turbid condition. And, by the way, the camel can go without water
for as much as four days, but after that when he drinks, he drinks
in immense quantities.

9

The elephant at the most can eat nine Macedonian medimni of fodder
at one meal; but so large an amount is unwholesome. As a general
rule it can take six or seven medimni of fodder, five medimni of
wheat, and five mareis of wine-six cotylae going to the maris. An
elephant has been known to drink right off fourteen Macedonian
metretae of water, and another metretae later in the day.

Camels live for about thirty years; in some exceptional cases
they live much longer, and instances have been known of their living
to the age of a hundred. The elephant is said by some to live for
about two hundred years; by others, for three hundred.

10

Sheep and goats are graminivorous, but sheep browse assiduously
and steadily, whereas goats shift their ground rapidly, and browse
only on the tips of the herbage. Sheep are much improved in
condition by drinking, and accordingly they give the flocks salt every
five days in summer, to the extent of one medimnus to the hundred
sheep, and this is found to render a flock healthier and fatter. In
fact they mix salt with the greater part of their food; a large amount
of salt is mixed into their bran (for the reason that they drink
more when thirsty), and in autumn they get cucumbers with a sprinkling
of salt on them; this admixture of salt in their food tends also to
increase the quantity of milk in the ewes. If sheep be kept on the
move at midday they will drink more copiously towards evening; and
if the ewes be fed with salted food as the lambing season draws near
they will get larger udders. Sheep are fattened by twigs of the
olive or of the oleaster, by vetch, and bran of every kind; and
these articles of food fatten all the more if they be first
sprinkled with brine. Sheep will take on flesh all the better if
they be first put for three days through a process of starving. In
autumn, water from the north is more wholesome for sheep than water
from the south. Pasture grounds are all the better if they have a
westerly aspect.

Sheep will lose flesh if they be kept overmuch on the move or be
subjected to any hardship. In winter time shepherds can easily
distinguish the vigorous sheep from the weakly, from the fact that the
vigorous sheep are covered with hoar-frost while the weakly ones are
quite free of it; the fact being that the weakly ones feeling
oppressed with the burden shake themselves and so get rid of it. The
flesh of all quadrupeds deteriorates in marshy pastures, and is the
better on high grounds. Sheep that have flat tails can stand the
winter better than long-tailed sheep, and short-fleeced sheep than the
shaggy-fleeced; and sheep with crisp wool stand the rigour of winter
very poorly. Sheep are healthier than goats, but goats are stronger
than sheep. (The fleeces and the wool of sheep that have been killed
by wolves, as also the clothes made from them, are exceptionally
infested with lice. )

11

Of insects, such as have teeth are omnivorous; such as have a
tongue feed on liquids only, extracting with that organ juices from
all quarters. And of these latter some may be called omnivorous,
inasmuch as they feed on every kind of juice, as for instance, the
common fly; others are blood-suckers, such as the gadfly and the
horse-fly, others again live on the juices of fruits and plants. The
bee is the only insect that invariably eschews whatever is rotten;
it will touch no article of food unless it have a sweet-tasting juice,
and it is particularly fond of drinking water if it be found
bubbling up clear from a spring underground.

So much for the food of animals of the leading genera.

12

The habits of animals are all connected with either breeding and
the rearing of young, or with the procuring a due supply of food;
and these habits are modified so as to suit cold and heat and the
variations of the seasons. For all animals have an instinctive
perception of the changes of temperature, and, just as men seek
shelter in houses in winter, or as men of great possessions spend
their summer in cool places and their winter in sunny ones, so also
all animals that can do so shift their habitat at various seasons.

Some creatures can make provision against change without
stirring from their ordinary haunts; others migrate, quitting Pontus
and the cold countries after the autumnal equinox to avoid the
approaching winter, and after the spring equinox migrating from warm
lands to cool lands to avoid the coming heat. In some cases they
migrate from places near at hand, in others they may be said to come
from the ends of the world, as in the case of the crane; for these
birds migrate from the steppes of Scythia to the marshlands south of
Egypt where the Nile has its source. And it is here, by the way,
that they are said to fight with the pygmies; and the story is not
fabulous, but there is in reality a race of dwarfish men, and the
horses are little in proportion, and the men live in caves
underground. Pelicans also migrate, and fly from the Strymon to the
Ister, and breed on the banks of this river. They depart in flocks,
and the birds in front wait for those in the rear, owing to the fact
that when the flock is passing over the intervening mountain range,
the birds in the rear lose sight of their companions in the van.

Fishes also in a similar manner shift their habitat now out of
the Euxine and now into it. In winter they move from the outer sea
in towards land in quest of heat; in summer they shift from shallow
waters to the deep sea to escape the heat.

Weakly birds in winter and in frosty weather come down to the
plains for warmth, and in summer migrate to the hills for coolness.
The more weakly an animal is the greater hurry will it be in to
migrate on account of extremes of temperature, either hot or cold;
thus the mackerel migrates in advance of the tunnies, and the quail in
advance of the cranes. The former migrates in the month of Boedromion,
and the latter in the month of Maemacterion. All creatures are
fatter in migrating from cold to heat than in migrating from heat to
cold; thus the quail is fatter when he emigrates in autumn than when
he arrives in spring. The migration from cold countries is
contemporaneous with the close of the hot season. Animals are in
better trim for breeding purposes in spring-time, when they change
from hot to cool lands.

Of birds, the crane, as has been said, migrates from one end of
the world to the other; they fly against the wind. The story told
about the stone is untrue: to wit, that the bird, so the story goes,
carries in its inside a stone by way of ballast, and that the stone
when vomited up is a touchstone for gold.

The cushat and the rock-dove migrate, and never winter in our
country, as is the case also with the turtle-dove; the common
pigeon, however, stays behind. The quail also migrates; only, by the
way, a few quails and turtle-doves may stay behind here and there in
sunny districts. Cushats and turtle-doves flock together, both when
they arrive and when the season for migration comes round again.
When quails come to land, if it be fair weather or if a north wind
is blowing, they will pair off and manage pretty comfortably; but if a
southerly wind prevail they are greatly distressed owing to the
difficulties in the way of flight, for a southerly wind is wet and
violent. For this reason bird-catchers are never on the alert for
these birds during fine weather, but only during the prevalence of
southerly winds, when the bird from the violence of the wind is unable
to fly. And, by the way, it is owing to the distress occasioned by the
bulkiness of its body that the bird always screams while flying: for
the labour is severe. When the quails come from abroad they have no
leaders, but when they migrate hence, the glottis flits along with
them, as does also the landrail, and the eared owl, and the corncrake.
The corncrake calls them in the night, and when the birdcatchers
hear the croak of the bird in the nighttime they know that the
quails are on the move. The landrail is like a marsh bird, and the
glottis has a tongue that can project far out of its beak. The eared
owl is like an ordinary owl, only that it has feathers about its ears;
by some it is called the night-raven. It is a great rogue of a bird,
and is a capital mimic; a bird-catcher will dance before it and, while
the bird is mimicking his gestures, the accomplice comes behind and
catches it. The common owl is caught by a similar trick.

As a general rule all birds with crooked talons are
short-necked, flat-tongued, and disposed to mimicry. The Indian
bird, the parrot, which is said to have a man's tongue, answers to
this description; and, by the way, after drinking wine, the parrot
becomes more saucy than ever.

Of birds, the following are migratory-the crane, the swan, the
pelican, and the lesser goose.

13

Of fishes, some, as has been observed, migrate from the outer seas
in towards shore, and from the shore towards the outer seas, to
avoid the extremes of cold and heat.

Fish living near to the shore are better eating than deep-sea
fish. The fact is they have more abundant and better feeding, for
wherever the sun's heat can reach vegetation is more abundant,
better in quality, and more delicate, as is seen in any ordinary
garden. Further, the black shore-weed grows near to shore; the other
shore-weed is like wild weed. Besides, the parts of the sea near to
shore are subjected to a more equable temperature; and consequently
the flesh of shallow-water fishes is firm and consistent, whereas
the flesh of deep-water fishes is flaccid and watery.

The following fishes are found near into the shore-the
synodon, the black bream, the merou, the gilthead, the mullet, the red
mullet, the wrasse, the weaver, the callionymus, the goby, and
rock-fishes of all kinds. The following are deep-sea fishes--the
trygon, the cartilaginous fishes, the white conger, the serranus,
the erythrinus, and the glaucus. The braize, the sea-scorpion, the
black conger, the muraena, and the piper or sea-cuckoo are found alike
in shallow and deep waters. These fishes, however, vary for various
localities; for instance, the goby and all rock-fish are fat off the
coast of Crete.