62 A GLOSSARY OF GREEK BIRDS 



IBII {coiitiniieJ). 



TU)V TrTffwyuv Kcii tov nvyaiov uKpov' ravra 8e ra tinov TrdvTa, ^eXaivd fan 

 ^€iva)S' (TKeXfa 8e K(il TrpocrcoTroi/, efKpeprjS rfj (Tfprj. Cf. Arist. H. A. 

 ix. 27, 617 b iv fieu ovv Trj liWt] AlyviTTO) a'l XevKai dcriv, nXrjV iv IlrjXovaM 

 ov ylvovrni' id 8e, fieXaiuai iv rr; oKXtj Alyi/Ttra ovk elaiu, fv UrjXovcria) S' 

 fla-ii'. Cf. Plin. X. (30) 45, Solin. xxxv. p. 95. On the geographical con- 

 fusion implied in these accounts, vide J. G. Schneid. in Arist. vol. iv. 

 pp. 493-496. 



The annual fight between the Ibis and the flying serpents is also 

 alluded to: Cic. Nat. D. i. loi, Ael. ii. 38, Phile, De An. xvi, Solin. 

 xxxv, Pomp. Mela iii. 9, Amm. Marcell. xx. 15, Isidor. i. p. 306, Albert. 

 M. vi. p. 640, &c. 



The Ibis in conflict with a winged serpent on coins of Jubah II, 

 and Cleopatra of Mauretania (Imhoof-Bl. and K. p. 37). The 'Winged 

 Serpents ' were probably the hot winds and sandstorms (cf. Diod. 

 Sic. i. 128) of spring, which disappeared as the Etesian winds {opviOlai 

 avefioi) supervened, and the Ibis returned in the month of Thoth from 

 its migration, with the season of the inundations which freed Egypt 

 from all her pests : cf. Savigny, op. cit. pp. 91, 134, Pluche, Hist, du 

 Ciel, i. I, p. 77 ; an interpretation of the Winged Serpents, more subtle 

 than this, is however possible : cf the ocpn lepaKonopcpos, Philo ap. 

 Euseb. Praep. Evang. i. p. 41, Lydus De Menss. pp. 53, 137, Creuzer 

 Symb. ii. 246, &c. On the other hand the India7i ocfxis nrepcoToi of 

 Megasthenes (ap. Ael. xvi. 41) seem to have been real, not mythical, 

 and were very probably ' Vampire ' Bats, Pieropus medius, Temm. 

 (Val. Ball). On the Ibis as a useful destroyer of ordinary serpents, 

 see Cic. Nat. D. i. 36, ii. 50, Diod. Sic. i. 97, Strabo, Geogr. xvii. p. 823, 

 Plin. N. H. X. 28 (40), &c. How Moses brought it in cages of 

 papyrus to destroy the serpents of the Ethiopian desert, Joseph, ii. 10. 

 p. 127. How serpents are terrified by an Ibis' feather, Ael. i. 2i^, Phile, 

 De An. v. 715, or even paralyzed by it, Zoroast. in Geopon. xv. i, cf ib, 

 xiii. 8, Theoph. Simoc. Quest. Phys. xiv. p. 19, &c. ; likewise the 

 crocodile : an indolent and rapacious man symbolized by a crocodile 

 crowned with a plume of Ibis' feathers, tovtov yap eap 'i^ecos nTepa diyfjs, 

 dKivi]Tov e'vprio-eLi, Horap. ii. 81, Pier. Valer. xvii. 22. The Ibis was also 

 hostile to the scorpion, Ael. x. 29, including 'winged scorpions,' Phile, 

 De Ibi : and is associated [obscurely] with the Scorpion on the small 

 zodiac of Dendera, Savigny, op. cit. p. 131, Denon, Voy. pi, 130; cf. 

 Kircher, Oedip. ii. pp. 207, 213. The Ibis also destroyed locusts 

 and caterpillars, Diod. Sic; it fed on fish, avoiding strong currents, 

 Physiol. Syr. c. xviii, Procop. Comm. in Levit. p. 344, Vincent. Burg. 

 • Specul. i. p. 12 12; and on the refuse of the markets of Alexandria, 

 Strabo, 1. c. Its flesh was poisonous and fatal, Vine. B. i. 1212, ii. 14S9 

 ejus ova si quis comeditur, moritur ; cf Albert. M. xxiii. 24, Gesner, 



