The Zoology of Herodotus 



" alligator " ; and it seems that on the island of 

 Myconos a species of lizard is still called croco- 

 dile in modern Greek. 



The phoenix is supposed to be so hopelessly 

 fabulous that it is useless to speculate as to its 

 nature ; although there is something to be said 

 for the theory that identifies it with the golden 

 pheasant, the most brilliant of living things, and 

 a creature which, being easy to keep alive, may 

 have, albeit very rarely, been passed from hand 

 to hand all through the East sufficiently to keep 

 up the tradition. It is true that Herodotus com- 

 pares its form and size to the eagle's ; but, on 

 the other hand, a word he uses in describing the 

 plumage — golden-haired — is singularly appro- 

 priate to the golden pheasant, and to that only 

 among birds. And as shape impresses the un- 

 skilled observer much less than colour, between 

 the picture he saw and his remembrance of it 

 some distortion may well have occurred. It 

 must be remembered that the originals of sup- 

 posed mythical animals have a way of turning 

 up at times. When a frigate-bird was captured 

 in New Zealand, the Maoris who saw it were 

 agreed that the long-winged wanderer was the 

 true " hokioi," a bird supposed traditionally to 

 spend the whole day in the air. And when a 

 bird-of-paradise was first brought alive to Cal- 

 cutta the then reigning Amir took the trouble to 



2 59 



