Chap. 9.] HAWKS. 487 



these eggs ^ it purifies the others and its nest, and then throws 

 it away : he states also that they hover about for three 39 days, 

 over the spot where carcases are about to be found. 



CHAP. 8. (7.) THE BIKDS CALLED SANGUALIS AND IMMUSULUS. 



There has been considerable argument among the Roman 

 augurs about the birds known as the "sangualis" and the 

 " immusulus." Some persons are of opinion that the immu- 

 sulus is the young of the vulture, and the sangualis that of 

 the ossifrage. Massurius says, 40 that the sangualis is the same 

 as the ossifrage, and that the immusulus is the young of the 

 eagle, before the tail begins to turn white. Some persons 

 have asserted that these birds have not been seen at Home 

 since the time of the augur Mucius ; for my part, I think it 

 much more likely, that, amid that general heedlessness as to 

 all knowledge, which has of late prevailed, no notice has been 

 taken of them. 



CHAP. 9. (8.) HAWKS. THE BTJTEO. 



We find no less than sixteen 41 kinds of hawks mentioned ; 

 among these are the aegithus, which is lame 42 of one leg, and 

 is looked upon as the most favourable omen for the augurs on 

 the occasion of a marriage, or in matters connected with pro- 

 perty in the shape of cattle : the triorchis also, so called 

 from the number of its testicles, 43 and to which Phemonoe has 

 assigned the first rank in augury. This last is by the Romans 

 known as the " buteo ;" indeed there is a family 44 that has 

 taken its surname from it, from the circumstance of this bird 

 having given a favourable omen by settling upon the ship of 

 one of them when he held a command. The Greeks call one 



38 Ovid, in his " Art of Love," speaks of the use of eggs in purifications 

 made by lovesick damsels. See B. ii. 1. 330. 



39 This story arises from the extreme acuteness of their power of smelling 

 a dead body. The Egyptians said that the vulture foreknows the field of 

 battle seven days. 



40 Festus says, also, that it is the ossifrage, and was so called from the 

 god Sancus. 41 Aristotle says ten, 



42 A mere fable. Cuvier says that the aegithus of Aristotle was probably 

 a kind of sparrow. 



43 Said to be three in number ; a mere fable. The buzzard probably is 

 meant. 



41 The family of the Buteones belonged to the gens Fabia. 



