46 A GLOSSARY OF GREEK BIRDS 



FA A YE {continued). 



The War of the Owls and Crows : noXffiin yXaC|, Kopiovrj, upxikos. 

 Arist. H. A. ix. I, 609 vvKTcop (m^ovXfvei tols dols ttjs Koputvqs, k.t.\. 

 Ael. iii. 9, Antig. Mirab. 57 (62), Plut. Od. et Inv. iv (Mor. 537 C). 

 The story is oriental, and is one of the chief tales in the Mahabharata. 

 Cf. Indian Antiq. March, 1882, p. 87; also, 'The Night of Slaughter,' 

 by Sir Ed. Arnold. The account in Julian. Imp. Orat. iv. 149 suggests 

 that the story is simply a parable of the Sun and Moon ; vide infra. 

 See also S. v. kooui'T]. Cf. Prov. aWo ykav^, liKko Kopavij (pdeyyerai' 

 in\ Tciv dWrjXois nfj (TvpcpayvovvTav, Suid. 



Milks the ewes like a goatsucker : uses a bat's heart to keep away 

 ants from its nestlings, Dion. De Avib. i. 15. 



Sacred to Demeter, Porph. De Abst. iii. 5. 



No Owls in Crete. Ael. v. 2, xvii. 10, Arist. De Mirab. 124 (130), 

 83 (84), Plin. X. 29 (41). 



Fables of the very wise Owl, Aes. 105, 106, from Dio Chrysost. xii, 

 Ixxii. A fabled metamorphosis, Nicand. ap. Anton. Lib. 10 ; s. v. j3ul^a : 

 see also Boios ap. Ant. Lib. 15. 



The allusion to the Owl in Ar. Av. 358 is unexplained: it contains 

 some obscure reference to the sacred x^'^P'^ ^^^ probably to the feast 

 of the p^i'Tpot. 



yXaOl can scarcely be said to be a generic term, except in the sense 

 that the Little Owl, as the commonest species, is taken as typical 

 of the rest. It is still extremely common about Athens (cf. Ar. Av. 301 

 y\avK els 'Adrjvas, cf. Antiph. 3, 96 (Meineke), Lucian, Nigr. i, Diog. L., 

 Vit. Plat., Cic. ad Quint, ii. 16, &c. ; Propert. ii. 20, 5 nocturna 

 volucris funesta querela, Attica), as indeed it is, in one or other of its 

 local forms, all round the Levant. It is the bird of Athene (cf. Ar. Av. 

 516, Eq. 1092, &c., <S:c.), doubtless in her primitive character of the 

 Goddess of Night ; the epithet yAauKcoTrts is quite obscure, but I fancy 

 we have it used in a very ancient sense when applied to the moon, e. g. 



Eur. fr. (ap. Schol. Ap. Rhod. i. 1280) yXaVKOinis re o-TpeCpeTai prjvi] : cf. 



Emped. ap. Plut. ii. 934 C; cf. also yXavKw, a name for the Moon, 

 Schol. Pind. 01. vi. 76 (cit. Fick, Beitr. Indog. Spr. xx, p. 156, 1894). 

 On Athene as a moon-goddess, cf. Porph. ap. Euseb. P. E. iii. 11; 

 Creuzer, Symb. iii. 380, &c. It was represented on Athenian coins 

 (yXavKd AnvpiMTiKni, Ar. Av. 1106, Schol. in Ar. Eq. 1091, Plut. i. 442, 

 Philochori fr. p. 83, Suid., Hesych.), and is still the city's badge. 

 On a very ancient colossal Owl from the Parthenon, see Friederichs, 

 Bausteine, p. 22 ; cf. Hesych. y\av^ iv ttoKh' napoifila, dvaKflrai yap vno 

 ^aidpov iv TTJ aKponoXei. The owl of Athene is always a hornless, and 

 never a horned or eared species (cf. Blumenbach, Sp. Hist. Nat. Ant, 

 p. 20, Gottingen, 1808). 



A dance called yXav^, Athen. xiv. 629 f. ; also aKwyjr, q. v. 



