526 plint's natueal history. [BookX. 



caused as much water to come within its reach as was necessary 

 to satisfy its thirst. 



CHAP. 61. (44.) THE BIRDS OP DIOMEDES. 



Nor yet must I pass by the birds '^ of Diomedes in silence. 

 Juba calls these birds " cataractae," and says that they have 

 teeth and eyes of a fiery colour, while the rest of the body is 

 white : that they always have two chiefs, the one to lead the 

 main body, the other to take charge of the rear ; that they ex- 

 cavate holes with their bills, and then cover them with hurdles, 

 which they cover again with the earth that has been thus 

 thrown up ; that it is in these places they hatch their young ; 

 fhat each of these holes has two outlets ; that one of them looks 

 towards the east, and that by it they go forth to feed, return- 

 ing by the one which looks towards the west ; and that when 

 about to ease themselves, they always take to the wing, and fly 

 against the wind. In one spot only throughout the whole 

 earth are these birds to be seen, in the island, namely, which 

 we have mentioned®*^ as famous for the tomb and shrine of 

 Diomedes, lying over against the coast of Apulia : they bear 

 a strong resemblance to the coot. When strangers who ai'e 

 barbarians arrive on that island, they pursue them with loud 

 and clamorous cries, and only show courtesy to Greeks by 

 birth ; seeming thereby, with a wonderful discernment, to pay 

 respect to them as the fellow-countrymen of Diomedes. 

 Every day they fill their throats, and cover their feathers, with 

 water, and so wash and purify the temple there. From this 

 circumstance arises the fable ^^ that the companions of Diomedes 

 were metamorphosed into these birds. 



CHAP. 62. (45.) ANIMALS THAT CAN LEAEN NOTHING. . 



"We ought not to omit, while we are speaking of instincts, 

 that among birds the swallow®^ is quite incapable of being 



79 Cuvier is inclined to think that the Anas tadorna approaches most 

 nearly the description given here. From Ovid's description of their hard 

 and pointed bills and claws, it would appear that a petrel (Procellaria), or 

 else a white heron (Ardea garzetta), is intended ; but these birds, he remarks, 

 do not make holes in the earth, Linnaeus has given the name of Dio- 

 medea exulans to the albatross, a bird of the Antarctic seas, which cannot 

 have been known to the ancients. 



^° B. iii. c. 29. ^^ See Ovid's Met. B. xiii. 



S2 Albertus Magnus says that swallows can be tamed. 



