THE MEDIEVAL NATURALIST. 23 1 



mage ; and that either from fear of the white rooster, or 

 maj^be some other cause, it sleeps with open eyes — both of 

 them, notice. The Romans knew more about the zoology 

 of Africa, at least the north part, than they did of the Ori- 

 ent. The main source of de Thaun's information was 

 lyatin. In 1795 Mungo Park, the celebrated explorer, re- 

 cords that in the course of his travels into the interior of 

 Africa, one of his native attendants tied a w^hite chicken 

 to a branch of a certain kind of tree, pronouncing the op- 

 eration as an offering or sacrifice to the spirits or white 

 birds of the woods, who were a powerful race of beings of 

 a white color. 



This old heathen custom was doubtless the origin of the 

 story relative to the lion given by our author to the stu- 

 dents of nature nearly seven hundred years before Park 

 recorded his observation in darkest Africa. 



Attention is called to this incident only to show the 

 force of myth — how persistently perpetuated and passed 

 as fact from one generation to another for centuries. That 

 story about the ' ' swans a little before their death sing 

 most sweetly,'' given as a truth in one of our school read- 

 ers, is a case in point and of modern acceptance by at least 

 many young people in some sections of this country of en- 

 lightened school-boards. That story was old and general- 

 ly believed in the time of Pliny, who said in substance, 

 that "swans are skilful in singing is now rife in every 

 man's mouth, but, for myself, I never heard them sing, 

 and perchance no other man. I am led to think thus b)^ 

 some experiments." 



Our author, de Thaun, tells us that the panther is little 

 less wonderful in its habits than the lion. It is a mild 

 and gentle beast, (think of that ! ) and loved by all the 

 other animals saving the dragon, this monstor, being ugly 

 and unloving in disposition, hates and fears the panther, 

 whose appetite is easily gratified. It eats all kinds of 



