NEPTOZ— NYKTIKOPAE II9 



NOYMHNIOI {contimied). 

 references vide s. v. drraYag). In all probability, vovixijvios was some 

 bird associated with moon-worship ; we have an obscure indication 

 of a kindred symbolism in the case of drrayas, in the statement that 

 that bird is hostile to the Cock (Ael. vi. 45). That aTtayas had some 

 mystical signification seems plain, though the precise allusion is 

 obscure : the frequent reference to the bird as ttoikIXos, and the state- 

 ment of its friendship with the Stag, may in time furnish a clue to the 

 mystery. For my part, I imagine I discern a stellar attribute in the 

 one bird, and a lunar in the other. Tradition, of doubtful antiquity, 

 associates the name Numenius with the Curlew, and it may well have 

 this or some similar bird with a decurved or crescentic bill. 



NYKTAI'ETOZ* opvts Upos "Hpas, 6 Koi ipa>8i6s, Hesych. Cf. I'UKTiKopa^. 



NYKTIKO'PAE, s. kuKTOKopa^, Hesych. Probably the Horned or Long- 

 eared. Owl, Slrix oius, L. ; but perhaps also applied to the 

 Wight-Heron. 



Arist. H. A. viii. 12, 597 b 'ivioi tw a>Tov vvKTiKopana KoXovaiv (loc. dub.). 

 lb. viii. 3, 592 b fVt rav vvKrepivo^v 'ivioi ynp.'^avvx^s elaiv, olov vvKTiKopa^, 

 yXai^, ^pvas. lb. ix. 34, 689 b yXavKes 8e Km vvKTiKopaKSs, Koi ra Xoirra 

 Sera TTjS f]p,epas dSwarel ^Xeireiv, ti]s vvktos pev drjpevovra rrjv Tpo(f>r]v avrois 

 TTopi^erai' drjpevet 8e p.is koi aavpa^, k.t. A. Cf. Athen. viii. 353 a, where 

 in a similar passage, KopaKes = vvKTinopaKes. 



Arist. H. A. ii. 17, 509 dnocfivdSas e'xet. [The caeca are rudimentary 

 or absent altogether in the Herons ; they are large and conspicuous in 

 the Owls.] vvKTtKopn^ is, therefore, in Arist. a nocturnal, rapacious bird, 

 identical with, or confounded with, wto?. It can scarcely be other than 

 the Long-Eared Owl. 



It corresponds to Heb. D13, an Owl, in Ps. 102. 6 (LXX). 



A bird of evil omen. Horap. ii. 25 WKrtKopa^ ddvarov a-rjpaivei' acpvco 

 yap eTTepxerai tols veocraois Ta>v Koponmv Kara ras vvktos, w? 6 ddvaros dcpvco 

 eirepxerai. With this passage, cf. the legendary hostility of the Owl and 

 the Crows, s. vv. yXaul, Kopdyi] : there is, however, a very similar story 

 of epuSio;. 



Anth. Pal. xi. 186 pvKTiKopa^ u8u dnvaTrjefydpov, nX\' oti'v aa-rj | Ai]p6(fii\o9, 

 6vr](TKfi KaiTos 6 vvKTKopa^. Cf. thc curvieti ferale of the Owl, Virg. 

 Aen. iv, 462 : vide also s. v. Puas. Cf. also Spenser's ' hoarse night- 

 raven, trompe of doleful drere,' iS:c. 



A fabled metamorphosis, Boios ap. Anton. Lib. c. xv ; cf. xapa8pi(59. 



There is an old confusion between this bird and the Night-Heron, 

 Ardea nycticorax, L. Gesner (ed. cit., p. 357), discussing the discrepant 

 opinions regarding w/cTtKopa|, figures the Night-Heron, and adds, ' Wir 

 haben hierbey die Figur des Vogels gesetzt, welcher zu Strasburg ein 

 Nachtram anderswo ein Nachtrabe geheissen wird, welcher doch 



