508 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOET. [Book X. 



well ; it is singular that when introduced into these localities 

 they will he no longer productive, but die immediately they 

 are thus transplanted. "What can it be that is thus fatal to 

 the increase of one particular species, or whence this envy 

 manifested against them by Nature ? What, too, are the limits 

 that have been marked out for the birds on the face of the 

 earth ? 



Rhodes 19 possesses no eagles. In Italy beyond the Padus, 

 there is, near the Alps, a lake known by the name of Larius, 

 beautifully situate amid a country covered with shrubs ; and 

 yet this lake is never visited by storks, nor, indeed, are they 

 ever known to come within eight miles of it ; while, on the 

 other hand, in the neighbouring territory of the Insubres 2( 

 there are immense flocks of magpies and jackdaws, the only 2 ' 

 bird that is guilty of stealing gold and silver, a very singulai 

 propensity. 



It is said that in the territory of Tarentum, the woodpecke] 

 of Mars is never found. It is only lately too, and that bul 

 very rarely, that various kinds of pies have begun to be seer 

 in the districts that lie between the Apennines and the City ; 

 birds which are known by the name of " variaB," 22 and are re- 

 markable for the length of the tail. It is a peculiarity oi 

 this bird, that it becomes bald every year at the time of sowing 

 rape. The partridge does not fly beyond the frontiers oi 

 Boeotia, into Attica ; nor does any bird, in the island 23 in the 

 Euxine in which Achilles was buried, enter the temple there 

 consecrated to him. In the territory of Fidenae, in the vicinity 

 of the City, the storks have no young nor do they build nests : bul 

 vast numbers of ringdoves arrive from beyond sea every year 

 in the district of Yolaterrae. At Rome, neither flies nor dogs 

 ever enter the temple of Hercules in the Cattle Market. There 

 are numerous other instances of a similar nature in reference 

 to all kinds of animals, which from time to time I feel my- 

 self prompted by prudent considerations to omit, lest I should 



19 Suetonius says, that when Tiberius was staying at Khodes, an eagle 

 perched on the roof of his house ; such a bird having never been seen 

 before on the island. 20 See B. iii. c. 21. 



21 It is still noted for its thieving propensities ; witness the English stor) 

 of the Maid and the Magpie, and the Italian opera of "La Gazza Ladra.' 

 Cicero says, " They would no more trust gold with you, than with a jack- 

 daw." See also Ovid's Met. B. vii. It is the Corvus pica of Linnseus. 



22 Mottled pies." 2 See B. iv. c. 12. 



