68 A GLOSSARY OF GREEK BIRDS 



'iKTrNOI, or "iKTivoi (Aiistoph., cf. Suid.): also Iktis {nepyalm, Hesych.). 

 In plur. 'iKTivfs (Ael. i. 35, ii. 47) or 1kt7v€s (Paus.). For other 

 grammatical forms, see L. & So.. &c. Derivation unknown; 

 sometimes said to be connected with Sk. ^yena. 



A Kite : including the Common Kite, Milvus regalis, Briss., M. 

 icimus, Sav.. and the Black Kite, M. ater, Gm. The Black 

 Kite is still called IktIvo^ in the Cyclades, where it is the com- 

 moner species of the two (Erh.). The Common Kite is also 

 called Tai(f)Tr]i in Attica (Heldreich). 



In minor references frequent, usually as a robber, e.g. Theogn. 1261, 

 1302 ; Soph. Fr. 890 'Ixrivos wy f/cXn-y^e napacrvpas Kpeas ; Plat. Phaed. 82 ; 

 Men. 4, 329 (493) ; Plat. Com. 2, 695 (69) : Aristoph. fr. 2, 1192 (71), 

 Ar. fr. 525, Etym. M. p. 470. 34 'Unva TravrocpdaXpov cipnaya : Simon. 

 Iambi. II, Automed. viii, in Gk, Anth. ii. 192 ovtos f^ft. yap apnayos 

 Iktivov X*'P" KparaiOTfprjv. 



Description. — Arist. De Part. 670, 34 piKpoi 6 (rnXrjv' Tr)v \o\fjv e^ei 

 Trpos TW rjnaTi Km Trpos Trj Koikia : H. A. vi. 6, 563 ^1*0 <{>"' ivloTf 5e Kai 

 rpia' eirad^ft rrepl (iKoaiv fjpepas : ib. viii. 3, 592 peytdos oaov rpiopxis : 

 ib. 594 oXiyaKis Tvivei, SinTai 8e irivcov. Very destructive to poultry ; ovBev 

 av Tis avai8e(JTepov e'lnoi, Dion. De Avib. i. 7; cf. Theogn. 1 302 Iktivov 

 (TxerXiov fjOos. 



A migratory bird : it arrives before the swallow, at the spring 

 shearing-time, Ar. Av. 714; in Egypt it does not migrate, Herod, ii. 

 22 ; it sometimes hibernates, Arist. H. A. viii. 16, 600 01 ph TrXr^rrlov 

 oPTfS TOiovTav ToTTwv, iv ols del 8iapevov(ri, Koi Iktlvoi Kal ;^cAiSdi'e$', OTro- 

 \(opox)(Tiv ivTalBa, 01 8e noppairtpa) bvres ovk eKTOirt^ovcriv aXXa KpvTTTOVaiv 

 eavTOvs' rjSrj yap uippevni iroXXaX )(eXib6vii elcriv iv ayydois ey^iXcopevai 

 TvapTTcw, Kcn 1kt7vol eK TOtovrcov eKTreropevoi xmpioiV, orav (palvcavTaL to TTparov. 

 The common Kite is merely a bird of passage in Greece, a very few 

 remaining to winter there (Krliper) ; the Black Kite is a rare visitor to 

 the mainland of Greece. Both species are common, and breed, in 

 Macedonia (Kriiper, Elwes, &c.). 



The statement ^IktIvos cfxavfrai appears in various Calendars, e. g. 

 Geminus, I sag. in Arat. Phaen. c. xvi, who dates its advent, according 

 to Eudoxus thirteen days, to Euctemon eight, and to Callippus one day, 

 before the vernal equinox. According to Grotius, Arat. Phaen. notae 

 ad imagg. p. 55, Milvus, in Latin, refers to the constellation Cygnus ; cf. 

 Ov. F. iii. 793 Stella Lycaoniam vergit declivis ad Arcton Milvus. 

 Haec ilia nocte [xvi. Kal. April.] videnda venit ; see also Plin. xviii. 6 ; 

 but according to Ideler, Sternnamen, p. yy, the dates given do not 

 tally with this hypothesis, the heliacal rising of Cygnus being three 

 months earlier ; and he prefers to assume that the statements in the 

 older Calendars referred to the bird of passage, and were mistakenly 



