Chap. 50 J THE ACAXTHYLLIS. f) 1 5 



CHAP. 50. THE ACAXTHYLLIS AND OTHER BIRDS. 



Belonging to the genus of birds known as the " vitiparrse, " 

 there is one 45 whose nest is formed of dried moss, 46 and is in 

 shape so exactly like a ball, that it is impossible to discover 

 the mouth of it. The bird, also, that is known as the acan- 

 thyllis, 47 makes its nest of a similar shape, and interweaves it 

 with pieces of flax. The nest of one of the woodpeckers, very 

 much like a cup in shape, is suspended by a twig from the end 

 of the branch of a tree, so that no quadruped may be able to 

 reach it. It is strongly asserted, that the witwall 48 sleeps 

 suspended by its feet, because it fancies that by doing so it is 

 in greater safety. A thing, indeed, that is well-known of them 

 all, is the fact that, in a spirit of foresight, they select the pro- 

 jecting branches of trees that are sufficiently strong, for the 

 purpose of supporting their nests, and then arch them over to 

 protect them from the rain, or else shield them by means of the 

 thickness of the foliage. 



In Arabia there is a bird known as the " cinnamolgus." 49 

 It builds its nest with sprigs of cinnamon ; and the natives 

 knock them down with arrows loaded with lead, in order to 

 sell them. In Scythia there is a bird, the size of the otis, 

 which produces two young ones always, in a hare's skin sus- 

 pended 80 from the top branches of a tree. Pies, when they 

 have observed a person steadily gazing at their nest, will im- 

 mediately remove their eggs to another place. This is said to 

 be accomplished in a truly wonderful manner, by such birds as 

 have not toes adapted for holding and removing their eggs. 

 They lay a twig upon two eggs, and then solder them to it by 

 means of a glutinous matter secreted from their body ; after 

 which, they pass their neck between the eggs, and so forming 

 an equipoise, convey them to another place. 



45 Cuvier thinks that this is either the remiz, the Parus pendulums of 

 Linnaeus, or else the moustache, the Parus biarmicus of Linnaeus. 



46 Not moss, Cuvier says, but blades of grass, and the silken fibres of the 

 poplar and other aquatic trees. 



47 Cuvier thinks that it is the same bird as the vitiparra of Pliny. 



48 Galgulus. 



49 This story, in all its extravagance, is related first by Herodotus, and 

 then by Aristotle, who has reduced it to its present dimensions, as given by 

 Pliny. 



50 Cuvier suggests that, if at all based upon truth, this may have been 

 the case in one instance, and then ascribed to the whole species. 



L L 2 



