hap. 41.] WHERE CERTAIN BIRDS ARE NEVEB FOUND. 507 



himself, that they do the same every fifth year in ^Ethiopia, 

 around the palace of Memnon. 



CHAP. 38. THE MELEAGRIDES. 



In a similar manner also, the birds called meleagrides 15 fight 

 in Boeotia. They are a species of African poultry, having a 

 hump on the back, which is covered with a mottled plumage. 

 These are the latest among the foreign birds that have been 

 received at our tables, on account of their disagreeable smell. 

 The tomb, however, of Meleager has rendered them famous. 



CHAP. 39. (27.) THE SELE OXIDES. 



Those birds are called seleucides, which are sent by Jupiter 

 at the prayers offered up to him by the inhabitants of Mount 

 Casius, 16 when the locusts are ravaging their crops of corn. 

 "Whence they 17 come, or whither they go, has never yet been 

 ascertained, as, in fact, they are never to be seen but when the 

 people stand in need of their aid. 



CHAP. 40. (28.) THE IBIS. 



The Egyptians also invoke their ibis against the incursions 

 of serpents ; and the people of Elis, their god Myiagros, 18 

 when the vast multitudes of flies are bringing pestilence 

 among them ; the flies die immediately the propitiatory sacri- 

 fice has been made to this god. 



CHAP. 41. (29.) PLACES IN WHICH CERTAIN BIRDS ARE NEVER 



FOUND. 



With reference to the departure of birds, the owlet, too, is 

 said to lie concealed for a few days. No birds of this last kind 

 are to be found in the island of Crete, and if any are imported 

 thither, they immediately die. Indeed, this is a remarkable 

 distinction made by Nature ; for she denies to certain places, 

 as it were, certain kinds of fruits and shrubs, and of animals as 



15 No doubt, as Cuvier says, this was the Numida meleagris of Linnaeus, 

 Guinea hen, or pintada. Cuvier remarks that they are very pugnacious 

 birds. 



is See B. v. c. 22. 



17 Cuvier suggests, that these birds may have been of the starling 

 genus, perhaps the Turdus roseus of Linnaeus. 



18 The " hunter of flies." 



