492 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book X, 



he says that it is nothing else but that same sort of billing that 

 is so often seen in pigeons. 59 Ravens are the only birds that 

 seem to have any comprehension of the meaning of their 

 auspices ; for when the guests of Medus 60 were assassinated, 

 they all took their departure from Peloponnesus and the region 

 of Attica, They are of the very worst omen when they swal- 

 low their voice, as if they were being choked. 



CHAP. 16. THE HORNED OWL. 



The birds of the night also have crooked talons, such as the 

 owlet, 61 the horned owl, and the screech-owl, for instance ; the 

 sight of all of which is defective in the day-time. The horned 

 owl is especially funereal, and is greatly abhorred in all auspices 

 of a public nature : it inhabits deserted places, and not only 

 desolate spots, but those of a frightful and inaccessible nature : 

 the monster of the night, its voice is heard, not with any tune- 

 ful note, but emitting a sort of shriek. Hence it is that it is 

 looked upon as a direful omen to see it in a city, or even so much 

 as in the day-time. I know, however, for a fact, that it is 

 not portentous of evil when it settles on the top of a private 

 house. It cannot fly whither it wishes in a straight line, but 

 is always carried along by a sidelong movement. A horned 

 owl entered the very sanctuary of the Capitol, in the consul- 

 ship of Sextus Palpelius Hister and L. Pedanius ; in conse- 

 quence of which, Home was purified on the nones 62 of March 

 in that year. 



CHAP. 17. (13'.) BIRDS, THE RACE OF WHICH IS EXTINCT, OR 

 OF WHICH ALL KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN LOST. 



An inauspicious bird also is that known as the " incendiary;" 63 



59 Doe says, that this is incorrect ; the beak of the raven not being of 

 a similar form to that of the pigeon. 



60 Or else, " The Median guests.'* It is not known to what he alludes. 

 Alexander ab Alexandro says, that both Alexander the Great and Cicero 

 were warned of their deaths by the raven. 



61 " Noctua, bubo, ulula." It is very doubtful what birds are meant by 

 these names. Cuvier has been at some pains to identify them, and con- 

 cludes that the noctua, or glaux of Aristotle, is the Strix brachyotas of 

 Linnaeus, the " short-eared screech-owl ;" the bubo, the Strix bubo of 

 LinnaBus, and the ulula, the Strix aluco of Linnaeus ; our madgehpwlet ; 

 grey or brown owl. 



62 Seventh of March. The year of their consulship is not known. 



63 Cuvier suggests, that it may be the coracias of Aristotle, our jack- 



