146 OEIGINAL AETICLES. 



way in wliich a fisli is solely capable of swimming, for the skin- 

 winged animals walk, for a bat has feet, and a seal imperfect feet.* 

 Of birds, some are weak-footed, which on this account are called 

 footless (cLTTo^eg) ; but this little bird (airovc) is strong-winged, and 

 nearly all the birds that are like it are strong-winged, but weak- 

 footed, as the swallow and the drepanis, for all these birds are similar 

 in their habits and in their wings, and in general appearance. Now, 

 the apoiis makes its appearance at all seasons, but the drepanis only 

 when it is wet during the summer, at which time it is both seen and 

 caught, but on the whole the bird is rare.f 



Many animals too are capable of both walking and summing. 

 There are also the following diflerences with regard to their modes 

 of life and their actions ; some animals are gregarious, others solitary, 

 both of footed, winged, and swimming animals ; and some are both gre- 

 garious and solitary, and of these some live in political communities, 

 others are not so united ; as instances of gregarious animals may be 

 mentioned, amongst birds, the family of pigeons, the crane and the 

 swan, but of birds with crooked talons not one kind is gregarious, — 



* KiKo\o[3o)iiivoQ," imperfect," or "truncated." The notion conveyed has been 

 applied by Cuvier to one of his sub-classes, Bluttlata, forming the order Cetacea. 



+ It is impossible to determine with satisfaction the Hirundinidte of Aristotle, 

 or to refer the Greek terms anovg and SpsTravic to their resi^ective species; the 

 ysXiSwv from its being described as destitute of down or feathers on the legs, as well 

 as from other indications, seems to denote the Hirundo riistica ; but although many 

 writers have identified the dirovg with the common Swift, (Cypselus apus); there is, 

 as M. Camus has well obsei-ved, some grave objections to this opinion ; for Aristotle 

 (ix. 21.) thus speaks of the olttovq. " Now the apodes, vahxch. some csll cijpselli, 

 resemble swallows (^f^'^ovfe), as was before observed, for it is not easy to dis- 

 tinguish them from swallows, except fi-om the fact of their having rough legs ; 

 they make their nest in long hollows made of clay, (iv kv^eWktiv Ik tt/jXou 

 TmrXafffxivaii; fiaKpalc.) wliich have just sufficient entrance for them. They 

 build their nests in narrow places, luider rocks and caves, so as to avoid the 

 observation both of man and animals." In some respects this passage would suit the 

 House Martin, (i/. «/'Z'/c«,) but not in all; this bird, if it is safe to draw conclusions 

 from what we see in this country, is by no means in the habit of avoiding men, on 

 the contrary it courts their society ; nor can the nest be properly described as being 

 ' louo-.' Again, the description quoted above will not allow us to identify the dTrovg 

 with the common Swift, which neither avoids men nor builds nollow nests 

 of clay. As to the drepanis (SpsTravie) which word occurs nowhere else in Aristotle, 

 so far as we have been able to ascertain; it is etymologically highly descriptive of 

 the su:kk-sha])cd wings of the ' Swift,' but it is difficult to believe that the bird should 

 have been so rarely seen in Greece as stated by Aristotle. Is it possible that the 

 SpEiravig may denote the Alpine Swift, {Cypselus aljiinus,) which, as Latham {Ge- 

 neral Hut. of Birds, y'li. p. 324, 4to ed. 18-23) says, frequents ponds and marshes 

 for fifteen or twenty days, after which it retires to the mountainous parts to breed; 

 " which flies so high as to be out of sight, and is known only by being heard." M. 

 Camus identilies the drojiuvis with the Sand Martin, (II. r/paria) and quotes the 

 authority of M. de Monlbeillard for believing these birds were taken for tl)e sake 

 of food which is fiit and good. There can be no doubt that Aristotle was acquainted 

 with all the above named Eirundinida;, though we are unable to reconcile all liis 

 statements with the known halnts of the diflcrcnt species. The proverb we often 

 use, '' one swallow docs not nuike a sunnncr," is as old as our author ; see Eth. 

 Mc. i. 6. ed. Bckker. 



