No More Learning

It is at war with certain creatures that
do it injury: with the eagle for robbing it, with the fox for worrying
it at night, and with the lark for stealing its eggs.

The snake is at war with the weasel and the pig; with the weasel
when they are both at home, for they live on the same food; with the
pig for preying on her kind. The merlin is at war with the fox; it
strikes and claws it, and, as it has crooked talons, it kills the
animal's young. The raven and the fox are good friends, for the
raven is at enmity with the merlin; and so when the merlin assails the
fox the raven comes and helps the animal. The vulture and the merlin
are mutual enemies, as being both furnished with crooked talons. The
vulture fights with the eagle, and so, by the way, does does swan; and
the swan is often victorious: moreover, of all birds swans are most
prone to the killing of one another.

In regard to wild creatures, some sets are at enmity with
other sets at all times and under all circumstances; others, as in the
case of man and man, at special times and under incidental
circumstances. The ass and the acanthis are enemies; for the bird
lives on thistles, and the ass browses on thistles when they are young
and tender. The anthus, the acanthis, and the aegithus are at enmity
with one another; it is said that the blood of the anthus will not
intercommingle with the blood of the aegithus. The crow and the
heron are friends, as also are the sedge-bird and lark, the laedus and
the celeus or green woodpecker; the woodpecker lives on the banks of
rivers and beside brakes, the laedus lives on rocks and bills, and
is greatly attached to its nesting-place. The piphinx, the harpe,
and the kite are friends; as are the fox and the snake, for both
burrow underground; so also are the blackbird and the turtle-dove. The
lion and the thos or civet are enemies, for both are carnivorous and
live on the same food. Elephants fight fiercely with one another,
and stab one another with their tusks; of two combatants the beaten
one gets completely cowed, and dreads the sound of his conqueror's
voice. These animals differ from one another an extraordinary extent
in the way of courage. Indians employ these animals for war
purposes, irrespective of sex; the females, however, are less in
size and much inferior in point of spirit. An elephant by pushing with
his big tusks can batter down a wall, and will butt with his
forehead at a palm until he brings it down, when he stamps on it and
lays it in orderly fashion on the ground. Men hunt the elephant in the
following way: they mount tame elephants of approved spirit and
proceed in quest of wild animals; when they come up with these they
bid the tame brutes to beat the wild ones until they tire the latter
completely. Hereupon the driver mounts a wild brute and guides him
with the application of his metal prong; after this the creature
soon becomes tame, and obeys guidance. Now when the driver is on their
back they are all tractable, but after he has dismounted, some are
tame and others vicious; in the case of these latter, they tie their
front-legs with ropes to keep them quiet. The animal is hunted whether
young or full grown.

Thus we see that in the case of the creatures above mentioned
their mutual friendship or the is due to the food they feed on and the
life they lead.

2

Of fishes, such as swim in shoals together are friendly to one
another; such as do not so swim are enemies. Some fishes swarm
during the spawning season; others after they have spawned. To state
the matter comprehensively, we may say that the following are shoaling
fish: the tunny, the maenis, the sea-gudgeon, the bogue, the
horse-mackerel, the coracine, the synodon or dentex, the red mullet,
the sphyraena, the anthias, the eleginus, the atherine, the
sarginus, the gar-fish, (the squid,) the rainbow-wrasse, the
pelamyd, the mackerel, the coly-mackerel. Of these some not only
swim in shoals, but go in pairs inside the shoal; the rest without
exception swim in pairs, and only swim in shoals at certain periods:
that is, as has been said, when they are heavy with spawn or after
they have spawned.

The basse and the grey mullet are bitter enemies, but they swarm
together at certain times; for at times not only do fishes of the same
species swarm together, but also those whose feeding-grounds are
identical or adjacent, if the food-supply be abundant. The grey mullet
is often found alive with its tail lopped off, and the conger with all
that part of its body removed that lies to the rear of the vent; in
the case of the mullet the injury is wrought by the basse, in that
of the conger-eel by the muraena. There is war between the larger
and the lesser fishes: for the big fishes prey on the little ones.
So much on the subject of marine animals.

3

The characters of animals, as has been observed, differ in respect
to timidity, to gentleness, to courage, to tameness, to
intelligence, and to stupidity.

The sheep is said to be naturally dull and stupid. Of all
quadrupeds it is the most foolish: it will saunter away to lonely
places with no object in view; oftentimes in stormy weather it will
stray from shelter; if it be overtaken by a snowstorm, it will stand
still unless the shepherd sets it in motion; it will stay behind and
perish unless the shepherd brings up the rams; it will then follow
home.

If you catch hold of a goat's beard at the extremity-the beard
is of a substance resembling hair-all the companion goats will stand
stock still, staring at this particular goat in a kind of
dumbfounderment.

You will have a warmer bed in amongst the goats than among the
sheep, because the goats will be quieter and will creep up towards
you; for the goat is more impatient of cold than the sheep.

Shepherds train sheep to close in together at a clap of their
hands, for if, when a thunderstorm comes on, a ewe stays behind
without closing in, the storm will kill it if it be with young;
consequently if a sudden clap or noise is made, they close in together
within the sheepfold by reason of their training.

Even bulls, when they are roaming by themselves apart from the
herd, are killed by wild animals.

Sheep and goats lie crowded together, kin by kin. When the sun
turns early towards its setting, the goats are said to lie no longer
face to face, but back to back.

4

Cattle at pasture keep together in their accustomed herds, and
if one animal strays away the rest will follow; consequently if the
herdsmen lose one particular animal, they keep close watch on all
the rest.

When mares with their colts pasture together in the same field,
if one dam dies the others will take up the rearing of the colt. In
point of fact, the mare appears to be singularly prone by nature to
maternal fondness; in proof whereof a barren mare will steal the
foal from its dam, will tend it with all the solicitude of a mother,
but, as it will be unprovided with mother's milk, its solicitude
will prove fatal to its charge.

5

Among wild quadrupeds the hind appears to be pre-eminently
intelligent; for example, in its habit of bringing forth its young
on the sides of public roads, where the fear of man forbids the
approach of wild animals. Again, after parturition, it first
swallows the afterbirth, then goes in quest of the seseli shrub, and
after eating of it returns to its young. The mother takes its young
betimes to her lair, so leading it to know its place of refuge in time
of danger; this lair is a precipitous rock, with only one approach,
and there it is said to hold its own against all comers. The male when
it gets fat, which it does in a high degree in autumn, disappears,
abandoning its usual resorts, apparently under an idea that its
fatness facilitates its capture. They shed their horns in places
difficult of access or discovery, whence the proverbial expression
of 'the place where the stag sheds his horns'; the fact being that, as
having parted with their weapons, they take care not to be seen. The
saying is that no man has ever seen the animal's left horn; that the
creature keeps it out of sight because it possesses some medicinal
property.

In their first year stags grow no horns, but only an excrescence
indicating where horns will be, this excrescence being short and
thick. In their second year they grow their horns for the first
time, straight in shape, like pegs for hanging clothes on; and on this
account they have an appropriate nickname. In the third year the
antlers are bifurcate; in the fourth year they grow trifurcate; and so
they go on increasing in complexity until the creature is six years
old: after this they grow their horns without any specific
differentiation, so that you cannot by observation of them tell the
animal's age. But the patriarchs of the herd may be told chiefly by
two signs; in the first place they have few teeth or none at all, and,
in the second place, they have ceased to grow the pointed tips to
their antlers. The forward-pointing tips of the growing horns (that is
to say the brow antlers), with which the animal meets attack, are
technically termed its 'defenders'; with these the patriarchs are
unprovided, and their antlers merely grow straight upwards. Stags shed
their horns annually, in or about the month of May; after shedding,
they conceal themselves, it is said, during the daytime, and, to avoid
the flies, hide in thick copses; during this time, until they have
grown their horns, they feed at night-time. The horns at first grow in
a kind of skin envelope, and get rough by degrees; when they reach
their full size the animal basks in the sun, to mature and dry them.
When they need no longer rub them against tree-trunks they quit
their hiding places, from a sense of security based upon the
possession of arms defensive and offensive. An Achaeine stag has
been caught with a quantity of green ivy grown over its horns, it
having grown apparently, as on fresh green wood, when the horns were
young and tender. When a stag is stung by a venom-spider or similar
insect, it gathers crabs and eats them; it is said to be a good
thing for man to drink the juice, but the taste is disagreeable. The
hinds after parturition at once swallow the afterbirth, and it is
impossible to secure it, for the hind catches it before it falls to
the ground: now this substance is supposed to have medicinal
properties. When hunted the creatures are caught by singing or
pipe-playing on the part of the hunters; they are so pleased with
the music that they lie down on the grass. If there be two hunters,
one before their eyes sings or plays the pipe, the other keeps out
of sight and shoots, at a signal given by the confederate. If the
animal has its ears cocked, it can hear well and you cannot escape its
ken; if its ears are down, you can.

6

When bears are running away from their pursuers they push their
cubs in front of them, or take them up and carry them; when they are
being overtaken they climb up a tree. When emerging from their
winter-den, they at once take to eating cuckoo-pint, as has been said,
and chew sticks of wood as though they were cutting teeth.

Many other quadrupeds help themselves in clever ways. Wild goats
in Crete are said, when wounded by arrows, to go in search of dittany,
which is supposed to have the property of ejecting arrows in the body.
Dogs, when they are ill, eat some kind of grass and produce
vomiting. The panther, after eating panther's-bane, tries to find some
human excrement, which is said to heal its pain. This panther's-bane
kills lions as well. Hunters hang up human excrement in a vessel
attached to the boughs of a tree, to keep the animal from straying
to any distance; the animal meets its end in leaping up to the
branch and trying to get at the medicine. They say that the panther
has found out that wild animals are fond of the scent it emits;
that, when it goes a-hunting, it hides itself; that the other
animals come nearer and nearer, and that by this stratagem it can
catch even animals as swift of foot as stags.

The Egyptian ichneumon, when it sees the serpent called the asp,
does not attack it until it has called in other ichneumons to help; to
meet the blows and bites of their enemy the assailants beplaster
themselves with mud, by first soaking in the river and then rolling on
the ground.

When the crocodile yawns, the trochilus flies into his mouth and
cleans his teeth. The trochilus gets his food thereby, and the
crocodile gets ease and comfort; it makes no attempt to injure its
little friend, but, when it wants it to go, it shakes its neck in
warning, lest it should accidentally bite the bird.

The tortoise, when it has partaken of a snake, eats marjoram; this
action has been actually observed. A man saw a tortoise perform this
operation over and over again, and every time it plucked up some
marjoram go back to partake of its prey; he thereupon pulled the
marjoram up by the roots, and the consequence was the tortoise died.
The weasel, when it fights with a snake, first eats wild rue, the
smell of which is noxious to the snake. The dragon, when it eats
fruit, swallows endive-juice; it has been seen in the act. Dogs,
when they suffer from worms, eat the standing corn. Storks, and all
other birds, when they get a wound fighting, apply marjoram to the
place injured.

Many have seen the locust, when fighting with the snake get a
tight hold of the snake by the neck. The weasel has a clever way of
getting the better of birds; it tears their throats open, as wolves do
with sheep. Weasels fight desperately with mice-catching snakes, as
they both prey on the same animal.

In regard to the instinct of hedgehogs, it has been observed
in many places that, when the wind is shifting from north to south,
and from south to north, they shift the outlook of their
earth-holes, and those that are kept in domestication shift over
from one wall to the other. The story goes that a man in Byzantium got
into high repute for foretelling a change of weather, all owing to his
having noticed this habit of the hedgehog.

The polecat or marten is about as large as the smaller breed of
Maltese dogs. In the thickness of its fur, in its look, in the white
of its belly, and in its love of mischief, it resembles the weasel; it
is easily tamed; from its liking for honey it is a plague to
bee-hives; it preys on birds like the cat. Its genital organ, as has
been said, consists of bone: the organ of the male is supposed to be a
cure for strangury; doctors scrape it into powder, and administer it
in that form.

7

In a general way in the lives of animals many resemblances to
human life may be observed. Pre-eminent intelligence will be seen more
in small creatures than in large ones, as is exemplified in the case
of birds by the nest building of the swallow. In the same way as men
do, the bird mixes mud and chaff together; if it runs short of mud, it
souses its body in water and rolls about in the dry dust with wet
feathers; furthermore, just as man does, it makes a bed of straw,
putting hard material below for a foundation, and adapting all to suit
its own size. Both parents co-operate in the rearing of the young;
each of the parents will detect, with practised eye, the young one
that has had a helping, and will take care it is not helped twice
over; at first the parents will rid the nest of excrement, but, when
the young are grown, they will teach their young to shift their
position and let their excrement fall over the side of the nest.

Pigeons exhibit other phenomena with a similar likeness to the
ways of humankind. In pairing the same male and the same female keep
together; and the union is only broken by the death of one of the
two parties. At the time of parturition in the female the
sympathetic attentions of the male are extraordinary; if the female is
afraid on account of the impending parturition to enter the nest,
the male will beat her and force her to come in. When the young are
born, he will take and masticate pieces of suitable food, will open
the beaks of the fledglings, and inject these pieces, thus preparing
them betimes to take food. (When the male bird is about to expel the
the young ones from the nest he cohabits with them all. ) As a
general rule these birds show this conjugal fidelity, but occasionally
a female will cohabit with other than her mate. These birds are
combative, and quarrel with one another, and enter each other's nests,
though this occurs but seldom; at a distance from their nests this
quarrelsomeness is less marked, but in the close neighbourhood of
their nests they will fight desperately. A peculiarity common to the
tame pigeon, the ring-dove and the turtle-dove is that they do not
lean the head back when they are in the act of drinking, but only when
they have fully quenched their thirst. The turtle-dove and the
ring-dove both have but one mate, and let no other come nigh; both
sexes co-operate in the process of incubation. It is difficult to
distinguish between the sexes except by an examination of their
interiors. Ring-doves are long-lived; cases have been known where such
birds were twenty-five years old, thirty years old, and in some
cases forty. As they grow old their claws increase in size, and
pigeon-fanciers cut the claws; as far as one can see, the birds suffer
no other perceptible disfigurement by their increase in age.
Turtle-doves and pigeons that are blinded by fanciers for use as
decoys, live for eight years. Partridges live for about fifteen years.
Ring-doves and turtle-doves always build their nests in the same place
year after year. The male, as a general rule, is more long-lived
than the female; but in the case of pigeons some assert that the
male dies before the female, taking their inference from the
statements of persons who keep decoy-birds in captivity. Some
declare that the male sparrow lives only a year, pointing to the
fact that early in spring the male sparrow has no black beard, but has
one later on, as though the blackbearded birds of the last year had
all died out; they also say that the females are the longer lived,
on the grounds that they are caught in amongst the young birds and
that their age is rendered manifest by the hardness about their beaks.
Turtle-doves in summer live in cold places, (and in warm places during
the winter); chaffinches affect warm habitations in summer and cold
ones in winter.

8

Birds of a heavy build, such as quails, partridges, and the
like, build no nests; indeed, where they are incapable of flight, it
would be of no use if they could do so. After scraping a hole on a
level piece of ground-and it is only in such a place that they lay
their eggs-they cover it over with thorns and sticks for security
against hawks and eagles, and there lay their eggs and hatch them;
after the hatching is over, they at once lead the young out from the
nest, as they are not able to fly afield for food for them. Quails and
partridges, like barn-door hens, when they go to rest, gather their
brood under their wings. Not to be discovered, as might be the case if
they stayed long in one spot, they do not hatch the eggs where they
laid them. When a man comes by chance upon a young brood, and tries to
catch them, the hen-bird rolls in front of the hunter, pretending to
be lame: the man every moment thinks he is on the point of catching
her, and so she draws him on and on, until every one of her brood
has had time to escape; hereupon she returns to the nest and calls the
young back. The partridge lays not less than ten eggs, and often
lays as many as sixteen. As has been observed, the bird has
mischievous and deceitful habits. 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.