Chap. 18.] BIRDS BORN WITH THE TAIL FIRST. 493 



on account of which, we find in the Annals, the City has 

 had to be repeatedly purified ; as, for instance, in the consul- 

 ship of L. Cassius and C. Marius, 64 in which year also it was 

 purified, in consequence of a horned owl being seen. "What 

 kind of bird this incendiary bird was, we do not find stated, 

 nor is it known by tradition. Some persons explain the term 

 this way; they say that the name " incendiary" was applied 

 to every bird that was seen carrying a burning coal from 

 the pyre, or altar ; while others, again, call such a bird a 

 "spinturnix; 65 though I never yet found any person who 

 said that he knew what kind of bird this spinturnix was. 



(14.) I find also that the people of our time are ignorant 

 what bird it was that was called by the ancients a "clivia." 

 Some persons say that it was a clamatory, others, again, that it 

 was a prohibitory, bird. We also find a bird mentioned 

 by Mgidius as the " subis," which breaks the eggs of the 

 eagle. 



(15.) In addition to the above, there are many other kinds 

 that are described in the Etruscan ritual, but which no one now 

 living has ever seen. It is surprising that these birds are no 

 longer in existence, since we find that even those kinds abound, 

 among which the gluttony of man commits such ravages. 



CHAP. 18. (16.) BIRDS WHICH ARE BORN WITH THE TAIL FIRST. 



Among foreigners, a person called Hylas is thought to have 

 written the best treatise on the subject of augury. He 

 informs us that the owlet, the horned owl, the woodpecker, 

 which makes holes in trees, the trygon, and the crow, are pro- 

 duced from the egg with the tail M first ; for the egg, being 

 turned upside down through the weight of the head of the 

 chick, presents the wrong end to be warmed by the mother 

 as she sits upon it. 



daw probably, the Corvus graculus of Linnaeus. It has been said, that in 

 its admiration of shining objects, it will take up a burning coal ; a trick 

 which has before now caused conflagrations. Servius speaks of it as fre- 

 quenting funeral piles. 



64 A.TT.C. 647.^ 



65 " Spinturnix" and " clivia" were names given by the augurs probably 

 to some kinds of birds. 



66 Cuvier ridicules the excessive ignorance of the augurs. It is with the 

 beak that the young bird breaks the shell. 



