No More Learning

In the spring-time, a noisy
scrimmage takes place, out of which the male-birds emerge each with
a hen. Owing to the lecherous nature of the bird, and from a dislike
to the hen sitting, the males, if they find any eggs, roll them over
and over until they break them in pieces; to provide against this
the female goes to a distance and lays the eggs, and often, under
the stress of parturition, lays them in any chance spot that offers;
if the male be near at hand, then to keep the eggs intact she refrains
from visiting them. If she be seen by a man, then, just as with her
fledged brood, she entices him off by showing herself close at his
feet until she has drawn him to a distance. When the females have
run away and taken to sitting, the males in a pack take to screaming
and fighting; when thus engaged, they have the nickname of 'widowers'.
The bird who is beaten follows his victor, and submits to be covered
by him only; and the beaten bird is covered by a second one or by
any other, only clandestinely without the victor's knowledge; this
is so, not at all times, but at a particular season of the year, and
with quails as well as with partridges. A similar proceeding takes
place occasionally with barn-door cocks: for in temples, where cocks
are set apart as dedicate without hens, they all as a matter of course
tread any new-comer. Tame partridges tread wild birds, pecket their
heads, and treat them with every possible outrage. The leader of the
wild birds, with a counter-note of challenge, pushes forward to attack
the decoy-bird, and after he has been netted, another advances with
a similar note. This is what is done if the decoy be a male; but if it
be a female that is the decoy and gives the note, and the leader of
the wild birds give a counter one, the rest of the males set upon
him and chase him away from the female for making advances to her
instead of to them; in consequence of this the male often advances
without uttering any cry, so that no other may hear him and come and
give him battle; and experienced fowlers assert that sometimes the
male bird, when he approaches the female, makes her keep silence, to
avoid having to give battle to other males who might have heard him.
The partridge has not only the note here referred to, but also a
thin shrill cry and other notes. Oftentimes the hen-bird rises from
off her brood when she sees the male showing attentions to the
female decoy; she will give the counter note and remain still, so as
to be trodden by him and divert him from the decoy. The quail and
the partridge are so intent upon sexual union that they often come
right in the way of the decoy-birds, and not seldom alight upon
their heads. So much for the sexual proclivities of the partridge, for
the way in which it is hunted, and the general nasty habits of the
bird.

As has been said, quails and partridges build their nests upon
the ground, and so also do some of the birds that are capable of
sustained flight. Further, for instance, of such birds, the lark and
the woodcock, as well as the quail, do not perch on a branch, but
squat upon the ground.

9

The woodpecker does not squat on the ground, but pecks at the bark
of trees to drive out from under it maggots and gnats; when they
emerge, it licks them up with its tongue, which is large and flat.
It can run up and down a tree in any way, even with the head
downwards, like the gecko-lizard. For secure hold upon a tree, its
claws are better adapted than those of the daw; it makes its way by
sticking these claws into the bark. One species of woodpecker is
smaller than a blackbird, and has small reddish speckles; a second
species is larger than the blackbird, and a third is not much
smaller than a barn-door hen. It builds a nest on trees, as has been
said, on olive trees amongst others. It feeds on the maggots and
ants that are under the bark: it is so eager in the search for maggots
that it is said sometimes to hollow a tree out to its downfall. A
woodpecker once, in course of domestication, was seen to insert an
almond into a hole in a piece of timber, so that it might remain
steady under its pecking; at the third peck it split the shell of
the fruit, and then ate the kernel.

10

Many indications of high intelligence are given by cranes. They
will fly to a great distance and up in the air, to command an
extensive view; if they see clouds and signs of bad weather they fly
down again and remain still. They, furthermore, have a leader in their
flight, and patrols that scream on the confines of the flock so as
to be heard by all. When they settle down, the main body go to sleep
with their heads under their wing, standing first on one leg and
then on the other, while their leader, with his head uncovered,
keeps a sharp look out, and when he sees anything of importance
signals it with a cry.

Pelicans that live beside rivers swallow the large smooth
mussel-shells: after cooking them inside the crop that precedes the
stomach, they spit them out, so that, now when their shells are
open, they may pick the flesh out and eat it.

11

Of wild birds, the nests are fashioned to meet the exigencies of
existence and ensure the security of the young. Some of these birds
are fond of their young and take great care of them, others are
quite the reverse; some are clever in procuring subsistence, others
are not so. Some of these birds build in ravines and clefts, and on
cliffs, as, for instance, the so-called charadrius, or stone-curlew;
this bird is in no way noteworthy for plumage or voice; it makes an
appearance at night, but in the daytime keeps out of sight.

The hawk also builds in inaccessible places. Although a ravenous
bird, it will never eat the heart of any bird it catches; this has
been observed in the case of the quail, the thrush, and other birds.
They modify betimes their method of hunting, for in summer they do not
grab their prey as they do at other seasons.

Of the vulture, it is said that no one has ever seen either
its young or its nest; on this account and on the ground that all of a
sudden great numbers of them will appear without any one being able to
tell from whence they come, Herodorus, the father of Bryson the
sophist, says that it belongs to some distant and elevated land. The
reason is that the bird has its nest on inaccessible crags, and is
found only in a few localities. The female lays one egg as a rule, and
two at the most.

Some birds live on mountains or in forests, as the hoopoe and
the brenthus; this latter bird finds his food with ease and has a
musical voice. The wren lives in brakes and crevices; it is
difficult of capture, keeps out of sight, is gentle of disposition,
finds its food with ease, and is something of a mechanic. It goes by
the nickname of 'old man' or 'king'; and the story goes that for
this reason the eagle is at war with him.

12

Some birds live on the sea-shore, as the wagtail; the bird is of a
mischievous nature, hard to capture, but when caught capable of
complete domestication; it is a cripple, as being weak in its hinder
quarters.

Web-footed birds without exception live near the sea or rivers
or pools, as they naturally resort to places adapted to their
structure. Several birds, however, with cloven toes live near pools or
marshes, as, for instance, the anthus lives by the side of rivers; the
plumage of this bird is pretty, and it finds its food with ease. The
catarrhactes lives near the sea; when it makes a dive, it will keep
under water for as long as it would take a man to walk a furlong; it
is less than the common hawk. Swans are web-footed, and live near
pools and marshes; they find their food with ease, are
good-tempered, are fond of their young, and live to a green old age.
If the eagle attacks them they will repel the attack and get the
better of their assailant, but they are never the first to attack.
They are musical, and sing chiefly at the approach of death; at this
time they fly out to sea, and men, when sailing past the coast of
Libya, have fallen in with many of them out at sea singing in mournful
strains, and have actually seen some of them dying.

The cymindis is seldom seen, as it lives on mountains; it is
black in colour, and about the size of the hawk called the
'dove-killer'; it is long and slender in form. The Ionians call the
bird by this name; Homer in the Iliad mentions it in the line:

Chalcis its name with those of heavenly birth,

But called Cymindis by the sons of earth.

The hybris, said by some to be the same as the eagle-owl, is
never seen by daylight, as it is dim-sighted, but during the night
it hunts like the eagle; it will fight the eagle with such desperation
that the two combatants are often captured alive by shepherds; it lays
two eggs, and, like others we have mentioned, it builds on rocks and
in caverns. Cranes also fight so desperately among themselves as to be
caught when fighting, for they will not leave off; the crane lays
two eggs.

13

The jay has a great variety of notes: indeed, might almost say
it had a different note for every day in the year. It lays about
nine eggs; builds its nest on trees, out of hair and tags of wool;
when acorns are getting scarce, it lays up a store of them in hiding.

It is a common story of the stork that the old birds are fed
by their grateful progeny. Some tell a similar story of the bee-eater,
and declare that the parents are fed by their young not only when
growing old, but at an early period, as soon as the young are
capable of feeding them; and the parent-birds stay inside the nest.
The under part of the bird's wing is pale yellow; the upper part is
dark blue, like that of the halcyon; the tips of the wings are About
autumn-time it lays six or seven eggs, in overhanging banks where
the soil is soft; there it burrows into the ground to a depth of six
feet.

The greenfinch, so called from the colour of its belly, is as
large as a lark; it lays four or five eggs, builds its nest out of the
plant called comfrey, pulling it up by the roots, and makes an
under-mattress to lie on of hair and wool. The blackbird and the jay
build their nests after the same fashion. The nest of the penduline
tit shows great mechanical skill; it has the appearance of a ball of
flax, and the hole for entry is very small.

People who live where the bird comes from say that there
exists a cinnamon bird which brings the cinnamon from some unknown
localities, and builds its nest out of it; it builds on high trees
on the slender top branches. They say that the inhabitants attach
leaden weights to the tips of their arrows and therewith bring down
the nests, and from the intertexture collect the cinnamon sticks.

14

The halcyon is not much larger than the sparrow. Its colour is
dark blue, green, and light purple; the whole body and wings, and
especially parts about the neck, show these colours in a mixed way,
without any colour being sharply defined; the beak is light green,
long and slender: such, then, is the look of the bird. Its nest is
like sea-balls, i. e. the things that by the name of halosachne or
seafoam, only the colour is not the same. The colour of the nest is
light red, and the shape is that of the long-necked gourd. The nests
are larger than the largest sponge, though they vary in size; they are
roofed over, and great part of them is solid and great part hollow. If
you use a sharp knife it is not easy to cut the nest through; but if
you cut it, and at the same time bruise it with your hand, it will
soon crumble to pieces, like the halosachne. The opening is small,
just enough for a tiny entrance, so that even if the nest upset the
sea does not enter in; the hollow channels are like those in
sponges. It is not known for certain of what material the nest is
constructed; it is possibly made of the backbones of the gar-fish;
for, by the way, the bird lives on fish. Besides living on the
shore, it ascends fresh-water streams. It lays generally about five
eggs, and lays eggs all its life long, beginning to do so at the age
of four months.

15

The hoopoe usually constructs its nest out of human excrement.
It changes its appearance in summer and in winter, as in fact do the
great majority of wild birds. (The titmouse is said to lay a very
large quantity of eggs: next to the ostrich the blackheaded tit is
said by some to lay the largest number of eggs; seventeen eggs have
been seen; it lays, however, more than twenty; it is said always to
lay an odd number. Like others we have mentioned, it builds in
trees; it feeds on caterpillars. ) A peculiarity of this bird and of
the nightingale is that the outer extremity of the tongue is not
sharp-pointed.

The aegithus finds its food with ease, has many young, and walks
with a limp. The golden oriole is apt at learning, is clever at making
a living, but is awkward in flight and has an ugly plumage.

16

The reed-warbler makes its living as easily as any other bird,
sits in summer in a shady spot facing the wind, in winter in a sunny
and sheltered place among reeds in a marsh; it is small in size,
with a pleasant note. The so-called chatterer has a pleasant note,
beautiful plumage, makes a living cleverly, and is graceful in form;
it appears to be alien to our country; at all events it is seldom seen
at a distance from its own immediate home.

17

The crake is quarrelsome, clever at making a living, but in
other ways an unlucky bird. The bird called sitta is quarrelsome,
but clever and tidy, makes its living with ease, and for its
knowingness is regarded as uncanny; it has a numerous brood, of
which it is fond, and lives by pecking the bark of trees. The
aegolius-owl flies by night, is seldom seen by day; like others we
have mentioned, it lives on cliffs or in caverns; it feeds on two
kinds of food; it has a strong hold on life and is full of resource.
The tree-creeper is a little bird, of fearless disposition; it lives
among trees, feeds on caterpillars, makes a living with ease, and
has a loud clear note. The acanthis finds its food with difficulty;
its plumage is poor, but its note is musical.

18

Of the herons, the ashen-coloured one, as has been said, unites
with the female not without pain; it is full of resource, carries
its food with it, is eager in the quest of it, and works by day; its
plumage is poor, and its excrement is always wet. Of the other two
species-for there are three in all-the white heron has handsome
plumage, unites without harm to itself with the female, builds a
nest and lays its eggs neatly in trees; it frequents marshes and lakes
and Plains and meadow land. The speckled heron, which is nicknamed
'the skulker', is said in folklore stories to be of servile origin,
and, as its nickname implies, it is the laziest bird of the three
species. Such are the habits of herons. The bird that is called the
poynx has this peculiarity, that it is more prone than any other
bird to peck at the eyes of an assailant or its prey; it is at war
with the harpy, as the two birds live on the same food.

19

There are two kinds of owsels; the one is black, and is found
everywhere, the other is quite white, about the same size as the
other, and with the same pipe. This latter is found on Cyllene in
Arcadia, and is found nowhere else. The laius, or blue-thrush, is like
the black owsel, only a little smaller; it lives on cliffs or on
tile roofings; it has not a red beak as the black owsel has.

20

Of thrushes there are three species. One is the misselthrush; it
feeds only on mistletoe and resin; it is about the size of the jay.
A second is the song-thrush; it has a sharp pipe, and is about the
size of the owsel. There is another species called the Illas; it is
the smallest species of the three, and is less variegated in plumage
than the others.

21

There is a bird that lives on rocks, called the blue-bird from its
colour. It is comparatively common in Nisyros, and is somewhat less
than the owsel and a little bigger than the chaffinch. It has large
claws, and climbs on the face of the rocks. It is steel-blue all over;
its beak is long and slender; its legs are short, like those of the
woodpecker.

22

The oriole is yellow all over; it is not visible during winter,
but puts in an appearance about the time of the summer solstice, and
departs again at the rising of Arcturus; it is the size of the
turtle-dove. The so-called soft-head (or shrike) always settles on one
and the same branch, where it falls a prey to the birdcatcher. Its
head is big, and composed of gristle; it is a little smaller than
the thrush; its beak is strong, small, and round; it is ashen-coloured
all over; is fleet of foot, but slow of wing. The bird-catcher usually
catches it by help of the owl.

23

There is also the pardalus. As a rule, it is seen in flocks and
not singly; it is ashen-coloured all over, and about the size of the
birds last described; it is fleet of foot and strong of wing, and
its pipe is loud and high-pitched. The collyrion (or fieldfare)
feeds on the same food as the owsel; is of the same size as the
above mentioned birds; and is trapped usually in the winter. All these
birds are found at all times. Further, there are the birds that live
as a rule in towns, the raven and the crow. These also are visible
at all seasons, never shift their place of abode, and never go into
winter quarters.

24

Of daws there are three species. One is the chough; it is as large
as the crow, but has a red beak. There is another, called the
'wolf'; and further there is the little daw, called the 'railer'.
There is another kind of daw found in Lybia and Phrygia, which is
web-footed.

25

Of larks there are two kinds. One lives on the ground and has a
crest on its head; the other is gregarious, and not sporadic like
the first; it is, however, of the same coloured plumage, but is
smaller, and has no crest; it is an article of human food.

26

The woodcock is caught with nets in gardens. It is about the
size of a barn-door hen; it has a long beak, and in plumage is like
the francolin-partridge. It runs quickly, and is pretty easily
domesticated. The starling is speckled; it is of the same size as
the owsel.

27

Of the Egyptian ibis there are two kinds, the white and the black.
The white ones are found over Egypt, excepting in Pelusium; the
black ones are found in Pelusium, and nowhere else in Egypt.

28

Of the little horned owls there are two kinds, and one is
visible at all seasons, and for that reason has the nickname of
'all-the-year-round owl'; it is not sufficiently palatable to come
to table; another species makes its appearance sometimes in the
autumn, is seen for a single day or at the most for two days, and is
regarded as a table delicacy; it scarcely differs from the first
species save only in being fatter; it has no note, but the other
species has. With regard to their origin, nothing is known from ocular
observation; the only fact known for certain is that they are first
seen when a west wind is blowing.

29

The cuckoo, as has been said elsewhere, makes no nest, but
deposits its eggs in an alien nest, generally in the nest of the
ring-dove, or on the ground in the nest of the hypolais or lark, or on
a tree in the nest of the green linnet. it lays only one egg and
does not hatch it itself, but the mother-bird in whose nest it has
deposited it hatches and rears it; and, as they say, this mother bird,
when the young cuckoo has grown big, thrusts her own brood out of
the nest and lets them perish; others say that this mother-bird
kills her own brood and gives them to the alien to devour, despising
her own young owing to the beauty of the cuckoo. Personal observers
agree in telling most of these stories, but are not in agreement as to
the instruction of the young. Some say that the mother-cuckoo comes
and devours the brood of the rearing mother; others say that the young
cuckoo from its superior size snaps up the food brought before the
smaller brood have a chance, and that in consequence the smaller brood
die of hunger; others say that, by its superior strength, it
actually kills the other ones whilst it is being reared up with
them. The cuckoo shows great sagacity in the disposal of its
progeny; the fact is, the mother cuckoo is quite conscious of her
own cowardice and of the fact that she could never help her young
one in an emergency, and so, for the security of the young one, she
makes of him a supposititious child in an alien nest. The truth is,
this bird is pre-eminent among birds in the way of cowardice; it
allows itself to be pecked at by little birds, and flies away from
their attacks.

30

It has already been stated that the footless bird, which some term
the cypselus, resembles the swallow; indeed, it is not easy to
distinguish between the two birds, excepting in the fact that the
cypselus has feathers on the shank. These birds rear their young in
long cells made of mud, and furnished with a hole just big enough
for entry and exit; they build under cover of some roofing-under a
rock or in a cavern-for protection against animals and men.

The so-called goat-sucker lives on mountains; it is a little
larger than the owsel, and less than the cuckoo; it lays two eggs,
or three at the most, and is of a sluggish disposition. It flies up to
the she-goat and sucks its milk, from which habit it derives its name;
it is said that, after it has sucked the teat of the animal, the
teat dries up and the animal goes blind. It is dim-sighted in the
day-time, but sees well enough by night.

31

In narrow circumscribed districts where the food would be
insufficient for more birds than two, ravens are only found in
isolated pairs; when their young are old enough to fly, the parent
couple first eject them from the nest, and by and by chase them from
the neighbourhood. The raven lays four or five eggs. About the time
when the mercenaries under Medius were slaughtered at Pharsalus, the
districts about Athens and the Peloponnese were left destitute of
ravens, from which it would appear that these birds have some means of
intercommunicating with one another.

32

Of eagles there are several species. One of them, called 'the
white-tailed eagle', is found on low lands, in groves, and in the
neighbourhood of cities; some call it the 'heron-killer'. It is bold
enough to fly to mountains and the interior of forests. The other
eagles seldom visit groves or low-lying land. There is another species
called the 'plangus'; it ranks second in point of size and strength;
it lives in mountain combes and glens, and by marshy lakes, and goes
by the name of 'duck-killer' and 'swart-eagle. ' It is mentioned by
Homer in his account of the visit made by Priam to the tent of
Achilles. There is another species with black Plumage, the smallest
but boldest of all the kinds. It dwells on mountains or in forests,
and is called 'the black-eagle' or 'the hare-killer'; it is the only
eagle that rears its young and thoroughly takes them out with it. It
is swift of flight, is neat and tidy in its habits, too proud for
jealousy, fearless, quarrelsome; it is also silent, for it neither
whimpers nor screams. There is another species, the percnopterus, very
large, with white head, very short wings, long tail-feathers, in
appearance like a vulture. It goes by the name of 'mountain-stork'
or 'half-eagle'. It lives in groves; has all the bad qualities of
the other species, and none of the good ones; for it lets itself be
chased and caught by the raven and the other birds. It is clumsy in
its movements, has difficulty in procuring its food, preys on dead
animals, is always hungry, and at all times whining and screaming.
There is another species, called the 'sea-eagle' or 'osprey'. This
bird has a large thick neck, curved wings, and broad tailfeathers;
it lives near the sea, grasps its prey with its talons, and often,
from inability to carry it, tumbles down into the water. There is
another species called the 'true-bred'; people say that these are
the only true-bred birds to be found, that all other birds-eagles,
hawks, and the smallest birds-are all spoilt by the interbreeding of
different species. The true-bred eagle is the largest of all eagles;
it is larger than the phene; is half as large again as the ordinary
eagle, and has yellow plumage; it is seldom seen, as is the case
with the so-called cymindis. The time for an eagle to be on the wing
in search of prey is from midday to evening; in the morning until
the market-hour it remains on the nest. In old age the upper beak of
the eagle grows gradually longer and more crooked, and the bird dies
eventually of starvation; there is a folklore story that the eagle
is thus punished because it once was a man and refused entertainment
to a stranger. The eagle puts aside its superfluous food for its
young; for owing to the difficulty in procuring food day by day, it at
times may come back to the nest with nothing. If it catch a man
prowling about in the neighbourhood of its nest, it will strike him
with its wings and scratch him with its talons. The nest is built
not on low ground but on an elevated spot, generally on an
inaccessible ledge of a cliff; it does, however, build upon a tree.
The young are fed until they can fly; hereupon the parent-birds topple
them out of the nest, and chase them completely out of the locality.
The fact is that a pair of eagles demands an extensive space for its
maintenance, and consequently cannot allow other birds to quarter
themselves in close neighbourhood. They do not hunt in the vicinity of
their nest, but go to a great distance to find their prey. When the
eagle has captured a beast, it puts it down without attempting to
carry it off at once; if on trial it finds the burden too heavy, it
will leave it. When it has spied a hare, it does not swoop on it at
once, but lets it go on into the open ground; neither does it
descend to the ground at one swoop, but goes gradually down from
higher flights to lower and lower: these devices it adopts by way of
security against the stratagem of the hunter. It alights on high
places by reason of the difficulty it experiences in soaring up from
the level ground; it flies high in the air to have the more
extensive view; from its high flight it is said to be the only bird
that resembles the gods. Birds of prey, as a rule, seldom alight
upon rock, as the crookedness of their talons prevents a stable
footing on hard stone. The eagle hunts hares, fawns, foxes, and in
general all such animals as he can master with ease. It is a
long-lived bird, and this fact might be inferred from the length of
time during which the same nest is maintained in its place.

33

In Scythia there is found a bird as large as the great bustard.
The female lays two eggs, but does not hatch them, but hides them in
the skin of a hare or fox and leaves them there, and, when it is not
in quest of prey, it keeps a watch on them on a high tree; if any
man tries to climb the tree, it fights and strikes him with its
wing, just as eagles do.

34

The owl and the night-raven and all the birds see poorly in the
daytime seek their prey in the night, but not all the night through,
but at evening and dawn. Their food consists of mice, lizards, chafers
and the like little creatures. The so-called phene, or lammergeier, is
fond of its young, provides its food with ease, fetches food to its
nest, and is of a kindly disposition. It rears its own young and those
of the eagle as well; for when the eagle ejects its young from the
nest, this bird catches them up as they fall and feeds them. For the
eagle, by the way, ejects the young birds prematurely, before they are
able to feed themselves, or to fly. It appears to do so from jealousy;
for it is by nature jealous, and is so ravenous as to grab furiously
at its food; and when it does grab at its food, it grabs it in large
morsels. It is accordingly jealous of the young birds as they approach
maturity, since they are getting good appetites, and so it scratches
them with its talons. The young birds fight also with one another,
to secure a morsel of food or a comfortable position, whereupon the
mother-bird beats them and ejects them from the nest; the young ones
scream at this treatment, and the phene hearing them catches them as
they fall. The phene has a film over its eyes and sees badly, but
the sea-eagle is very keen-sighted, and before its young are fledged
tries to make them stare at the sun, and beats the one that refuses to
do so, and twists him back in the sun's direction; and if one of
them gets watery eyes in the process, it kills him, and rears the
other. It lives near the sea, and feeds, as has been said, on
sea-birds; when in pursuit of them it catches them one by one,
watching the moment when the bird rises to the surface from its
dive. When a sea-bird, emerging from the water, sees the sea-eagle, he
in terror dives under, intending to rise again elsewhere; the eagle,
however, owing to its keenness of vision, keeps flying after him until
he either drowns the bird or catches him on the surface. The eagle
never attacks these birds when they are in a swarm, for they keep
him off by raising a shower of water-drops with their wings.

35

The cepphus is caught by means of sea-foam; the bird snaps at
the foam, and consequently fishermen catch it by sluicing with showers
of sea-water. These birds grow to be plump and fat; their flesh has
a good odour, excepting the hinder quarters, which smell of shoreweed.

36

Of hawks, the strongest is the buzzard; the next in point of
courage is the merlin; and the circus ranks third; other diverse kinds
are the asterias, the pigeon-hawk, and the pternis; the broaded-winged
hawk is called the half-buzzard; others go by the name of
hobby-hawk, or sparrow-hawk, or 'smooth-feathered', or 'toad-catcher'.
Birds of this latter species find their food with very little
difficulty, and flutter along the ground. Some say that there are
ten species of hawks, all differing from one another. One hawk, they
say, will strike and grab the pigeon as it rests on the ground, but
never touch it while it is in flight; another hawk attacks the
pigeon when it is perched upon a tree or any elevation, but never
touches it when it is on the ground or on the wing; other hawks attack
their prey only when it is on the wing. They say that pigeons can
distinguish the various species: so that, when a hawk is an assailant,
if it be one that attacks its prey when the prey is on the wing, the
pigeon will sit still; if it be one that attacks sitting prey, the
pigeon will rise up and fly away.

In Thrace, in the district sometimes called that of Cedripolis,
men hunt for little birds in the marshes with the aid of hawks. The
men with sticks in their hands go beating at the reeds and brushwood
to frighten the birds out, and the hawks show themselves overhead
and frighten them down. The men then strike them with their sticks and
capture them. They give a portion of their booty to the hawks; that
is, they throw some of the birds up in the air, and the hawks catch
them.

In the neighbourhood of Lake Maeotis, it is said, wolves act
in concert with the fishermen, and if the fishermen decline to share
with them, they tear their nets in pieces as they lie drying on the
shore of the lake.

37

So much for the habits of birds.

In marine creatures, also, one In marine creatures, also, one
may observe many ingenious devices adapted to the circumstances of
their lives. For the accounts commonly given of the so-called
fishing-frog are quite true; as are also those given of the torpedo.
The fishing-frog has a set of filaments that project in front of its
eyes; they are long and thin like hairs, and are round at the tips;
they lie on either side, and are used as baits. Accordingly, when
the animal stirs up a place full of sand and mud and conceals itself
therein, it raises the filaments, and, when the little fish strike
against them, it draws them in underneath into its mouth. The
torpedo narcotizes the creatures that it wants to catch,
overpowering them by the power of shock that is resident in its
body, and feeds upon them; it also hides in the sand and mud, and
catches all the creatures that swim in its way and come under its
narcotizing influence. This phenomenon has been actually observed in
operation. The sting-ray also conceals itself, but not exactly in
the same way. That the creatures get their living by this means is
obvious from the fact that, whereas they are peculiarly inactive, they
are often caught with mullets in their interior, the swiftest of
fishes. Furthermore, the fishing-frog is unusually thin when he is
caught after losing the tips of his filaments, and the torpedo is
known to cause a numbness even in human beings. Again, the hake, the
ray, the flat-fish, and the angelfish burrow in the sand, and after
concealing themselves angle with the filaments on their mouths, that
fishermen call their fishing-rods, and the little creatures on which
they feed swim up to the filaments taking them for bits of sea-weed,
such as they feed upon.

Wherever an anthias-fish is seen, there will be no dangerous
creatures in the vicinity, and sponge-divers will dive in security,
and they call these signal-fishes 'holy-fish'. It is a sort of
perpetual coincidence, like the fact that wherever snails are
present you may be sure there is neither pig nor partridge in the
neighbourhood; for both pig and partridge eat up the snails.

The sea-serpent resembles the conger in colour and shape, but is
of lesser bulk and more rapid in its movements. If it be caught and
thrown away, it will bore a hole with its snout and burrow rapidly
in the sand; its snout, by the way, is sharper than that of ordinary
serpents. The so-called sea-scolopendra, after swallowing the hook,
turns itself inside out until it ejects it, and then it again turns
itself outside in. The sea-scolopendra, like the land-scolopendra,
will come to a savoury bait; the creature does not bite with its
teeth, but stings by contact with its entire body, like the
so-called sea-nettle. The so-called fox-shark, when it finds it has
swallowed the hook, tries to get rid of it as the scolopendra does,
but not in the same way; in other words, it runs up the
fishing-line, and bites it off short; it is caught in some districts
in deep and rapid waters, with night-lines.

The bonitos swarm together when they espy a dangerous
creature, and the largest of them swim round it, and if it touches one
of the shoal they try to repel it; they have strong teeth. Amongst
other large fish, a lamia-shark, after falling in amongst a shoal, has
been seen to be covered with wounds.

Of river-fish, the male of the sheat-fish is remarkably
attentive to the young. The female after parturition goes away; the
male stays and keeps on guard where the spawn is most abundant,
contenting himself with keeping off all other little fishes that might
steal the spawn or fry, and this he does for forty or fifty days,
until the young are sufficiently grown to make away from the other
fishes for themselves. The fishermen can tell where he is on guard:
for, in warding off the little fishes, he makes a rush in the water
and gives utterance to a kind of muttering noise. He is so earnest
in the performance of his parental duties that the fishermen at times,
if the eggs be attached to the roots of water-plants deep in the
water, drag them into as shallow a place as possible; the male fish
will still keep by the young, and, if it so happen, will be caught
by the hook when snapping at the little fish that come by; if,
however, he be sensible by experience of the danger of the hook, he
will still keep by his charge, and with his extremely strong teeth
will bite the hook in pieces.

All fishes, both those that wander about and those that are
stationary, occupy the districts where they were born or very
similar places, for their natural food is found there. Carnivorous
fish wander most; and all fish are carnivorous with the exception of a
few, such as the mullet, the saupe, the red mullet, and the chalcis.
The so-called pholis gives out a mucous discharge, which envelops
the creature in a kind of nest. Of shell-fish, and fish that are
finless, the scallop moves with greatest force and to the greatest
distance, impelled along by some internal energy; the murex or
purple-fish, and others that resemble it, move hardly at all. Out of
the lagoon of Pyrrha all the fishes swim in winter-time, except the
sea-gudgeon; they swim out owing to the cold, for the narrow waters
are colder than the outer sea, and on the return of the early summer
they all swim back again. In the lagoon no scarus is found, nor
thritta, nor any other species of the spiny fish, no spotted
dogfish, no spiny dogfish, no sea-crawfish, no octopus either of the
common or the musky kinds, and certain other fish are also absent; but
of fish that are found in the lagoon the white gudgeon is not a marine
fish. Of fishes the oviparous are in their prime in the early summer
until the spawning time; the viviparous in the autumn, as is also
the case with the mullet, the red mullet, and all such fish. In the
neighbourhood of Lesbos, the fishes of the outer sea, or of the
lagoon, bring forth their eggs or young in the lagoon; sexual union
takes place in the autumn, and parturition in the spring. With
fishes of the cartilaginous kind, the males and females swarm together
in the autumn for the sake of sexual union; in the early summer they
come swimming in, and keep apart until after parturition; the two
sexes are often taken linked together in sexual union.

Of molluscs the sepia is the most cunning, and is the only
species that employs its dark liquid for the sake of concealment as
well as from fear: the octopus and calamary make the discharge
solely from fear. These creatures never discharge the pigment in its
entirety; and after a discharge the pigment accumulates again. The
sepia, as has been said, often uses its colouring pigment for
concealment; it shows itself in front of the pigment and then retreats
back into it; it also hunts with its long tentacles not only little
fishes, but oftentimes even mullets. The octopus is a stupid creature,
for it will approach a man's hand if it be lowered in the water; but
it is neat and thrifty in its habits: that is, it lays up stores in
its nest, and, after eating up all that is eatable, it ejects the
shells and sheaths of crabs and shell-fish, and the skeletons of
little fishes. It seeks its prey by so changing its colour as to
render it like the colour of the stones adjacent to it; it does so
also when alarmed. By some the sepia is said to perform the same
trick; that is, they say it can change its colour so as to make it
resemble the colour of its habitat. The only fish that can do this
is the angelfish, that is, it can change its colour like the
octopus. The octopus as a rule does not live the year out. It has a
natural tendency to run off into liquid; for, if beaten and
squeezed, it keeps losing substance and at last disappears. The female
after parturition is peculiarly subject to this colliquefaction; it
becomes stupid; if tossed about by waves, it submits impassively; a
man, if he dived, could catch it with the hand; it gets covered over
with slime, and makes no effort to catch its wonted prey. The male
becomes leathery and clammy. As a proof that they do not live into a
second year there is the fact that, after the birth of the little
octopuses in the late summer or beginning of autumn, it is seldom that
a large-sized octopus is visible, whereas a little before this time of
year the creature is at its largest. After the eggs are laid, they say
that both the male and the female grow so old and feeble that they are
preyed upon by little fish, and with ease dragged from their holes;
and that this could not have been done previously; they say also
that this is not the case with the small and young octopus, but that
the young creature is much stronger than the grown-up one. Neither
does the sepia live into a second year. The octopus is the only
mollusc that ventures on to dry land; it walks by preference on
rough ground; it is firm all over when you squeeze it, excepting in
the neck. So much for the mollusca.

It is also said that they make a thin rough shell about them
like a hard sheath, and that this is made larger and larger as the
animal grows larger, and that it comes out of the sheath as though out
of a den or dwelling place.

The nautilus (or argonaut) is a poulpe or octopus, but one
peculiar both in its nature and its habits. It rises up from deep
water and swims on the surface; it rises with its shell down-turned in
order that it may rise the more easily and swim with it empty, but
after reaching the surface it shifts the position of the shell. In
between its feelers it has a certain amount of web-growth,
resembling the substance between the toes of web-footed birds; only
that with these latter the substance is thick, while with the nautilus
it is thin and like a spider's web. It uses this structure, when a
breeze is blowing, for a sail, and lets down some of its feelers
alongside as rudder-oars. If it be frightened it fills its shell
with water and sinks. With regard to the mode of generation and the
growth of the shell knowledge from observation is not yet
satisfactory; the shell, however, does not appear to be there from the
beginning, but to grow in their cases as in that of other
shell-fish; neither is it ascertained for certain whether the animal
can live when stripped of the shell.

38

Of all insects, one may also say of all living creatures, the most
industrious are the ant, the bee, the hornet, the wasp, and in point
of fact all creatures akin to these; of spiders some are more
skilful and more resourceful than others. The way in which ants work
is open to ordinary observation; how they all march one after the
other when they are engaged in putting away and storing up their food;
all this may be seen, for they carry on their work even during
bright moonlight nights.

39

Of spiders and phalangia there are many species. Of the venomous
phalangia there are two; one that resembles the so-called wolf-spider,
small, speckled, and tapering to a point; it moves with leaps, from
which habit it is nicknamed 'the flea': the other kind is large, black
in colour, with long front legs; it is heavy in its movements, walks
slowly, is not very strong, and never leaps. (Of all the other species
wherewith poison-vendors supply themselves, some give a weak bite, and
others never bite at all. There is another kind, comprising the
so-called wolf-spiders. ) Of these spiders the small one weaves no web,
and the large weaves a rude and poorly built one on the ground or on
dry stone walls. It always builds its web over hollow places inside of
which it keeps a watch on the end-threads, until some creature gets
into the web and begins to struggle, when out the spider pounces.
The speckled kind makes a little shabby web under trees.

There is a third species of this animal, preeminently clever and
artistic. It first weaves a thread stretching to all the exterior ends
of the future web; then from the centre, which it hits upon with great
accuracy, it stretches the warp; on the warp it puts what
corresponds to the woof, and then weaves the whole together. It sleeps
and stores its food away from the centre, but it is at the centre that
it keeps watch for its prey. Then, when any creature touches the web
and the centre is set in motion, it first ties and wraps the
creature round with threads until it renders it helpless, then lifts
it and carries it off, and, if it happens to be hungry, sucks out
the life-juices--for that is the way it feeds; but, if it be not
hungry, it first mends any damage done and then hastens again to its
quest of prey. If something comes meanwhile into the net, the spider
at first makes for the centre, and then goes back to its entangled
prey as from a fixed starting point. If any one injures a portion of
the web, it recommences weaving at sunrise or at sunset, because it is
chiefly at these periods that creatures are caught in the web. It is
the female that does the weaving and the hunting, but the male takes a
share of the booty captured.

Of the skilful spiders, weaving a substantial web, there are two
kinds, the larger and the smaller. The one has long legs and keeps
watch while swinging downwards from the web: from its large size it
cannot easily conceal itself, and so it keeps underneath, so that
its prey may not be frightened off, but may strike upon the web's
upper surface; the less awkwardly formed one lies in wait on the
top, using a little hole for a lurking-place. Spiders can spin webs
from the time of their birth, not from their interior as a superfluity
or excretion, as Democritus avers, but off their body as a kind of
tree-bark, like the creatures that shoot out with their hair, as for
instance the porcupine. The creature can attack animals larger than
itself, and enwrap them with its threads: in other words, it will
attack a small lizard, run round and draw threads about its mouth
until it closes the mouth up; then it comes up and bites it.

40

So much for the spider. Of insects, there is a genus that has no
one name that comprehends all the species, though all the species
are akin to one another in form; it consists of all the insects that
construct a honeycomb: to wit, the bee, and all the insects that
resemble it in form.

There are nine varieties, of which six are gregarious-the bee, the
king-bee, the drone bee, the annual wasp, and, furthermore, the
anthrene (or hornet), and the tenthredo (or ground-wasp); three are
solitary-the smaller siren, of a dun colour, the larger siren, black
and speckled, and the third, the largest of all, that is called the
humble-bee. Now ants never go a-hunting, but gather up what is ready
to hand; the spider makes nothing, and lays up no store, but simply
goes a-hunting for its food; while the bee--for we shall by and by
treat of the nine varieties--does not go a-hunting, but constructs its
food out of gathered material and stores it away, for honey is the
bee's food. This fact is shown by the beekeepers' attempt to remove
the combs; for the bees, when they are fumigated, and are suffering
great distress from the process, then devour the honey most
ravenously, whereas at other times they are never observed to be so
greedy, but apparently are thrifty and disposed to lay by for their
future sustenance. They have also another food which is called
bee-bread; this is scarcer than honey and has a sweet figlike taste;
this they carry as they do the wax on their legs.

Very remarkable diversity is observed in their methods of
working and their general habits. When the hive has been delivered
to them clean and empty, they build their waxen cells, bringing in the
juice of all kinds of flowers and the 'tears' or exuding sap of trees,
such as willows and elms and such others as are particularly given
to the exudation of gum. With this material they besmear the
groundwork, to provide against attacks of other creatures; the
bee-keepers call this stuff 'stop-wax'. They also with the same
material narrow by side-building the entrances to the hive if they are
too wide. They first build cells for themselves; then for the
so-called kings and the drones; for themselves they are always
building, for the kings only when the brood of young is numerous,
and cells for the drones they build if a superabundance of honey
should suggest their doing so. They build the royal cells next to
their own, and they are of small bulk; the drones' cells they build
near by, and these latter are less in bulk than the bee's cells.

They begin building the combs downwards from the top of the
hive, and go down and down building many combs connected together
until they reach the bottom. The cells, both those for the honey and
those also for the grubs, are double-doored; for two cells are
ranged about a single base, one pointing one way and one the other,
after the manner of a double (or hour-glass-shaped) goblet. The
cells that lie at the commencement of the combs and are attached to
the hives, to the extent of two or three concentric circular rows, are
small and devoid of honey; the cells that are well filled with honey
are most thoroughly luted with wax. At the entry to the hive the
aperture of the doorway is smeared with mitys; this substance is a
deep black, and is a sort of dross or residual by-product of wax; it
has a pungent odour, and is a cure for bruises and suppurating
sores. The greasy stuff that comes next is pitch-wax; it has a less
pungent odour and is less medicinal than the mitys. Some say that
the drones construct combs by themselves in the same hive and in the
same comb that they share with the bees; but that they make no
honey, but subsist, they and their grubs also, on the honey made by
the bees. The drones, as a rule, keep inside the hive; when they go
out of doors, they soar up in the air in a stream, whirling round
and round in a kind of gymnastic exercise; when this is over, they
come inside the hive and feed to repletion ravenously. The kings never
quit the hive, except in conjunction with the entire swarm, either for
food or for any other reason. They say that, if a young swarm go
astray, it will turn back upon its route and by the aid of scent
seek out its leader. It is said that if he is unable to fly he is
carried by the swarm, and that if he dies the swarm perishes; and
that, if this swarm outlives the king for a while and constructs
combs, no honey is produced and the bees soon die out.

Bees scramble up the stalks of flowers and rapidly gather the
bees-wax with their front legs; the front legs wipe it off on to the
middle legs, and these pass it on to the hollow curves of the
hind-legs; when thus laden, they fly away home, and one may see
plainly that their load is a heavy one. On each expedition the bee
does not fly from a flower of one kind to a flower of another, but
flies from one violet, say, to another violet, and never meddles
with another flower until it has got back to the hive; on reaching the
hive they throw off their load, and each bee on his return is
accompanied by three or four companions. One cannot well tell what
is the substance they gather, nor the exact process of their work.
Their mode of gathering wax has been observed on olive-trees, as owing
to the thickness of the leaves the bees remain stationary for a
considerable while. After this work is over, they attend to the grubs.
There is nothing to prevent grubs, honey, and drones being all found
in one and the same comb. As long as the leader is alive, the drones
are said to be produced apart by themselves; if he be no longer
living, they are said to be reared by the bees in their own cells, and
under these circumstances to become more spirited: for this reason
they are called 'sting-drones', not that they really have stings,
but that they have the wish without the power, to use such weapons.
The cells for the drones are larger than the others; sometimes the
bees construct cells for the drones apart, but usually they put them
in amongst their own; and when this is the case the bee-keepers cut
the drone-cells out of the combs.

There are several species of bees, as has been said; two of
'kings', the better kind red, the other black and variegated, and
twice as big as the working-bee. The best workingbee is small,
round, and speckled: another kind is long and like an anthrene wasp;
another kind is what is called the robber-bee, black and flat-bellied;
then there is the drone, the largest of all, but devoid of sting,
and lazy. There is a difference between the progeny of bees that
inhabit cultivated land and of those from the mountains: the
forest-bees are more shaggy, smaller, more industrious and more
fierce. Working-bees make their combs all even, with the superficial
covering quite smooth. Each comb is of one kind only: that is, it
contains either bees only, or grubs only, or drones only; if it
happen, however, that they make in one and the same comb all these
kinds of cells, each separate kind will be built in a continuous row
right through. The long bees build uneven combs, with the lids of
the cells protuberant, like those of the anthrene; grubs and
everything else have no fixed places, but are put anywhere; from these
bees come inferior kings, a large quantity of drones, and the
so-called robber-bee; they produce either no honey at all, or honey in
very small quantities. Bees brood over the combs and so mature them;
if they fail to do so, the combs are said to go bad and to get covered
with a sort of spider's web. If they can keep brooding over the part
undamaged, the damaged part simply eats itself away; if they cannot so
brood, the entire comb perishes; in the damaged combs small worms
are engendered, which take on wings and fly away. When the combs
keep settling down, the bees restore the level surface, and put
props underneath the combs to give themselves free passage-room; for
if such free passage be lacking they cannot brood, and the cobwebs
come on. When the robber-bee and the drone appear, not only do they do
no work themselves, but they actually damage the work of the other
bees; if they are caught in the act, they are killed by the
working-bees. These bees also kill without mercy most of their
kings, and especially kings of the inferior sort; and this they do for
fear a multiplicity of kings should lead to a dismemberment of the
hive. They kill them especially when the hive is deficient in grubs,
and a swarm is not intended to take place; under these circumstances
they destroy the cells of the kings if they have been prepared, on the
ground that these kings are always ready to lead out swarms. They
destroy also the combs of the drones if a failure in the supply be
threatening and the hive runs short of provisions; under such
circumstances they fight desperately with all who try to take their
honey, and eject from the hive all the resident drones; and oftentimes
the drones are to be seen sitting apart in the hive. The little bees
fight vigorously with the long kind, and try to banish them from the
hives; if they succeed, the hive will be unusually productive, but
if the bigger bees get left mistresses of the field they pass the time
in idleness, and no good at all but die out before the autumn.
Whenever the working-bees kill an enemy they try to do so out of
doors; and whenever one of their own body dies, they carry the dead
bee out of doors also. The so-called robber-bees spoil their own
combs, and, if they can do so unnoticed, enter and spoil the combs
of other bees; if they are caught in the act they are put to death. It
is no easy task for them to escape detection, for there are
sentinels on guard at every entry; and, even if they do escape
detection on entering, afterwards from a surfeit of food they cannot
fly, but go rolling about in front of the hive, so that their
chances of escape are small indeed. The kings are never themselves
seen outside the hive except with a swarm in flight: during which time
all the other bees cluster around them. When the flight of a swarm
is imminent, a monotonous and quite peculiar sound made by all the
bees is heard for several days, and for two or three days in advance a
few bees are seen flying round the hive; it has never as yet been
ascertained, owing to the difficulty of the observation, whether or no
the king is among these. When they have swarmed, they fly away and
separate off to each of the kings; if a small swarm happens to
settle near to a large one, it will shift to join this large one,
and if the king whom they have abandoned follows them, they put him to
death. So much for the quitting of the hive and the swarmflight.
Separate detachments of bees are told off for diverse operations; that
is, some carry flower-produce, others carry water, others smooth and
arrange the combs. A bee carries water when it is rearing grubs. No
bee ever settles on the flesh of any creature, or ever eats animal
food. They have no fixed date for commencing work; but when their
provender is forthcoming and they are in comfortable trim, and by
preference in summer, they set to work, and when the weather is fine
they work incessantly.

The bee, when quite young and in fact only three days old, after
shedding its chrysalis-case, begins to work if it be well fed. When
a swarm is settling, some bees detach themselves in search of food and
return back to the swarm. In hives that are in good condition the
production of young bees is discontinued only for the forty days
that follow the winter solstice. When the grubs are grown, the bees
put food beside them and cover them with a coating of wax; and, as
soon as the grub is strong enough, he of his own accord breaks the lid
and comes out. Creatures that make their appearance in hives and spoil
the combs the working-bees clear out, but the other bees from sheer
laziness look with indifference on damage done to their produce.
When the bee-masters take out the combs, they leave enough food behind
for winter use; if it be sufficient in quantity, the occupants of
the hive will survive; if it be insufficient, then, if the weather
be rough, they die on the spot, but if it be fair, they fly away and
desert the hive. They feed on honey summer and winter; but they
store up another article of food resembling wax in hardness, which
by some is called sandarace, or bee-bread. Their worst enemies are
wasps and the birds named titmice, and furthermore the swallow and the
bee-eater. The frogs in the marsh also catch them if they come in
their way by the water-side, and for this reason bee-keepers chase the
frogs from the ponds from which the bees take water; they destroy also
wasps' nests, and the nests of swallows, in the neighbourhood of the
hives, and also the nests of bee-eaters. Bees have fear only of one
another. They fight with one another and with wasps. Away from the
hive they attack neither their own species nor any other creature, but
in the close proximity of the hive they kill whatever they get hold
of. Bees that sting die from their inability to extract the sting
without at the same time extracting their intestines. True, they often
recover, if the person stung takes the trouble to press the sting out;
but once it loses its sting the bee must die. They can kill with their
stings even large animals; in fact, a horse has been known to have
been stung to death by them. The kings are the least disposed to
show anger or to inflict a sting. Bees that die are removed from the
hive, and in every way the creature is remarkable for its cleanly
habits; in point of fact, they often fly away to a distance to void
their excrement because it is malodorous; and, as has been said,
they are annoyed by all bad smells and by the scent of perfumes, so
much so that they sting people that use perfumes.

They perish from a number of accidental causes, and when their
kings become too numerous and try each to carry away a portion of
the swarm.

The toad also feeds on bees; he comes to the doorway of the
hive, puffs himself out as he sits on the watch, and devours the
creatures as they come flying out; the bees can in no way retaliate,
but the bee-keeper makes a point of killing him.

As for the class of bee that has been spoken of as inferior or
good-for-nothing, and as constructing its combs so roughly, some
bee-keepers say that it is the young bees that act so from
inexperience; and the bees of the current year are termed young. The
young bees do not sting as the others do; and it is for this reason
that swarms may be safely carried, as it is of young bees that they
are composed. When honey runs short they expel the drones, and the
bee-keepers supply the bees with figs and sweet-tasting articles of
food. The elder bees do the indoor work, and are rough and hairy
from staying indoors; the young bees do the outer carrying, and are
comparatively smooth. They kill the drones also when in their work
they are confined for room; the drones, by the way, live in the
innermost recess of the hive. On one occasion, when a hive was in a
poor condition, some of the occupants assailed a foreign hive; proving
victorious in a combat they took to carrying off the honey; when the
bee-keeper tried to kill them, the other bees came out and tried to
beat off the enemy but made no attempt to sting the man.

The diseases that chiefly attack prosperous hives are first of all
the clerus-this consists in a growth of little worms on the floor,
from which, as they develop, a kind of cobweb grows over the entire
hive, and the combs decay; another diseased condition is indicated
in a lassitude on the part of the bees and in malodorousness of the
hive. Bees feed on thyme; and the white thyme is better than the
red. In summer the place for the hive should be cool, and in winter
warm. They are very apt to fall sick if the plant they are at work
on be mildewed. In a high wind they carry a stone by way of ballast to
steady them. If a stream be near at hand, they drink from it and
from it only, but before they drink they first deposit their load;
if there be no water near at hand, they disgorge their honey as they
drink elsewhere, and at once make off to work. There are two seasons
for making honey, spring and autumn; the spring honey is sweeter,
whiter, and in every way better than the autumn honey. Superior
honey comes from fresh comb, and from young shoots; the red honey is
inferior, and owes its inferiority to the comb in which it is
deposited, just as wine is apt to be spoiled by its cask;
consequently, one should have it looked to and dried. When the thyme
is in flower and the comb is full, the honey does not harden. The
honey that is golden in hue is excellent. White honey does not come
from thyme pure and simple; it is good as a salve for sore eyes and
wounds. Poor honey always floats on the surface and should be
skimmed off; the fine clear honey rests below. When the floral world
is in full bloom, then they make wax; consequently you must then
take the wax out of the hive, for they go to work on new wax at
once. The flowers from which they gather honey are as follows: the
spindle-tree, the melilot-clover, king's-spear, myrtle,
flowering-reed, withy, and broom. When they work at thyme, they mix in
water before sealing up the comb. As has been already stated, they all
either fly to a distance to discharge their excrement or make the
discharge into one single comb. The little bees, as has been said, are
more industrious than the big ones; their wings are battered; their
colour is black, and they have a burnt-up aspect. Gaudy and showy
bees, like gaudy and showy women, are good-for-nothings.

Bees seem to take a pleasure in listening to a rattling noise; and
consequently men say that they can muster them into a hive by rattling
with crockery or stones; it is uncertain, however, whether or no
they can hear the noise at all and also whether their procedure is due
to pleasure or alarm. They expel from the hive all idlers and
unthrifts. As has been said, they differentiate their work; some
make wax, some make honey, some make bee-bread, some shape and mould
combs, some bring water to the cells and mingle it with the honey,
some engage in out-of-door work. At early dawn they make no noise,
until some one particular bee makes a buzzing noise two or three times
and thereby awakes the rest; hereupon they all fly in a body to
work. By and by they return and at first are noisy; then the noise
gradually decreases, until at last some one bee flies round about,
making a buzzing noise, and apparently calling on the others to go
to sleep; then all of a sudden there is a dead silence.

The hive is known to be in good condition if the noise heard
within it is loud, and if the bees make a flutter as they go out and
in; for at this time they are constructing brood-cells. They suffer
most from hunger when they recommence work after winter. They become
somewhat lazy if the bee-keeper, in robbing the hive, leave behind too
much honey; still one should leave cells numerous in proportion to the
population, for the bees work in a spiritless way if too few combs are
left. They become idle also, as being dispirited, if the hive be too
big. A hive yields to the bee-keeper six or nine pints of honey; a
prosperous hive will yield twelve or fifteen pints, exceptionally good
hives eighteen. Sheep and, as has been said, wasps are enemies to
the bees. Bee-keepers entrap the latter, by putting a flat dish on the
ground with pieces of meat on it; when a number of the wasps settle on
it, they cover them with a lid and put the dish and its contents on
the fire. It is a good thing to have a few drones in a hive, as
their presence increases the industry of the workers. Bees can tell
the approach of rough weather or of rain; and the proof is that they
will not fly away, but even while it is as yet fine they go fluttering
about within a restricted space, and the bee-keeper knows from this
that they are expecting bad weather. When the bees inside the hive
hang clustering to one another, it is a sign that the swarm is
intending to quit; consequently, occasion, when a bee-keepers, on
seeing this, besprinkle the hive with sweet wine. It is advisable to
plant about the hives pear-trees, beans, Median-grass, Syrian-grass,
yellow pulse, myrtle, poppies, creeping-thyme, and almond-trees.
Some bee-keepers sprinkle their bees with flour, and can distinguish
them from others when they are at work out of doors. If the spring
be late, or if there be drought or blight, then grubs are all the
fewer in the hives. So much for the habits of bees.

41

Of wasps, there are two kinds. Of these kinds one is wild and
scarce, lives on the mountains, engenders grubs not underground but on
oak-trees, is larger, longer, and blacker than the other kind, is
invariably speckled and furnished with a sting, and is remarkably
courageous. The pain from its sting is more severe than that caused by
the others, for the instrument that causes the pain is larger, in
proportion to its own larger size. These wild live over into a
second year, and in winter time, when oaks have been in course of
felling, they may be seen coming out and flying away. They lie
concealed during the winter, and live in the interior of logs of wood.
Some of them are mother-wasps and some are workers, as with the
tamer kind; but it is by observation of the tame wasps that one may
learn the varied characteristics of the mothers and the workers. For
in the case of the tame wasps also there are two kinds; one consists
of leaders, who are called mothers, and the other of workers. The
leaders are far larger and milder-tempered than the others. The
workers do not live over into a second year, but all die when winter
comes on; and this can be proved, for at the commencement of winter
the workers become drowsy, and about the time of the winter solstice
they are never seen at all. The leaders, the so-called mothers, are
seen all through the winter, and live in holes underground; for men
when ploughing or digging in winter have often come upon mother-wasps,
but never upon workers. The mode of reproduction of wasps is as
follows.