486 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book X. 



the whole of the smaller quadrupeds, hut will attack deer 

 even. Boiling in the dust, the eagle covers its body all over 

 with it, and then perching on the antlers of the animal, shakes 

 the dust into its eyes, while at the same time it beats it on the 

 head with its wings, until the creature at last precipitates itself 

 down the rocks. Nor, indeed, is this one enemy sufficient for 

 it ; it has still more terrible combats with the dragon, 33 and 

 the issue is much more doubtful, although the battle is fought 

 in the air. The dragon seeks the eggs of the eagle with a 

 mischievous avidity ; while the eagle, in return, carries it off 

 whenever it happens to see it ; upon these occasions, the dragon 

 coils itself about the wings of the bird in multiplied folds, 

 until at last they fall to the earth together. 



CHAP. 6. (5.) AN EAGLE WHICH PRECIPITATED ITSELF ON THE 

 FUNERAL PILE OF A GIRL. 



There is a very famous story about an eagle at the city of 

 Sestos. Having been reared by a little girl, it used to testify 

 its gratitude for her kindness, first by bringing her birds, and 

 in due time various kinds of prey : at last she died, upon which 

 the bird threw itself on the lighted pile, and was consumed 

 with her body. In memory of this event, the inhabitants 

 raised upon the spot what they called an heroic monument, 34 

 in honour of Jupiter and the damsel, the eagle being a bird 

 consecrated to that divinity. 



CHAP. 7. (6.) THE VULTURE. 



Of the vultures, the black ones 35 are the strongest. No 

 person has yet found a vulture's nest : hence it is that there 

 are some who have thought, though erroneously, that these 

 birds come from the opposite hemisphere. 36 The fact is, that 

 they build their nest upon the very highest rocks ; their young- 

 ones, indeed, are often to be seen, being generally two in number. 

 Umbricius, the most skilful among the aruspices of our time, 

 says that the vulture lays thirteen eggs, 37 and that with one of 



33 See Virgil, JEn. B. xi. 1. 755, et seq. By the " dragon," he means 

 some large serpent. 34 u Heroum." 



35 The great European vulture. 



36 Their nests are seldom seen, in consequence of being concealed in the 

 crags of the highest mountains, the Pyrenees, for instance. 



37 "Three" seems a better reading. Aristotle says " two.'* 



