516 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [BookX. 



CHAP. 51. THE MEEOPS PAHTEIDGES. 



l^o less, too, is the shrewdness displayed by those birds which 

 make their nests upon the ground, because, from the extreme 

 weight of their body, they are unable to fly aloft. There is a 

 bird, known as the u merops/' 61 which feeds its parents in 

 their retreat : the colour of the plumage on the inside is pale, 

 and azure without, while it is of a somewhat reddish hue at 

 the extremity of the wings : this bird builds its nest in a hole 

 which it digs to the depth of six feet. 



Partridges 52 fortify their retreat so well with thorns and 

 shrubs, that it is effectually protected against beasts of prey. 

 They make a soft bed for their eggs by burying them in the 

 dust, but do not hatch them where they are laid : that no sus- 

 picion may arise from the fact of their being seen repeatedly 

 about the same spot, they cany them away to some other place. 

 The females also conceal themselves from their mates, in order 

 that they may not be delayed in the process of incubation, as 

 the males, in consequence of the warmth of their passions, are 

 apt to break the eggs. The males, thus deprived of the females, 

 fall to fighting amoijg themselves ; and it is said that the one 

 that is conquered, is treated as a female by the other. Trogus 

 Pompeius tells us that quails and dunghill cocks sometimes do 

 the same ; and adds, that wild partridges, when newly caught, 

 or when beaten by the others, are trodden promiscuously by 

 the tame ones. Through the very pugnacity thus inspired by 

 the strength of their passions, these birds are often taken, as 

 the leader of the whole covey frequently advances to fight with 

 the decoy-bird of the fowler ; as soon as he is taken, another and 

 then another will advance, all of which are caught in their 

 turn. The females, again, are caught about the pairing season ; 

 for then they will come forward to quarrel with the female 

 decoy-bird of the fowler, and so drive her away. Indeed, in 

 no other animal is there any such susceptibility in the sexual 

 feelings ; if the female only stands opposite to the male, while 

 the wind is blowing from that direction, she 53 will become im- 

 pregnated; and during this time she is in a state of the 



51 The Merops apiaster of Linnaeus, or bee-eater. 



52 Cuvier says that the red partridge, the Tetrao rufus of Linnoeus, is 

 meant. 



53 The same wonderful story is told by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B.v. c. 5, 

 and hy JElian, Hist. Anim. E. xvii. c. 15. 



