B. IX.] THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS. 249 



bomoloclius ; there is also another kind of jackdaw in Lydia 

 und Phrygia which is web-footed. 



4. Of the lark there are two kinds. One dwells or. 

 the ground, and has a crest. The other is gregarious, and 

 not solitary. Its colour is similar, though it is a smaller 

 bird, and has no crest. It is used for food. 



5. The ascalopas is generally taken in enclosed gardens. 

 It is of the size of the domestic fowl, it has a long beak, 

 and in colour resembles the attagen. It runs quickly, and 

 is very partial to the neighbourhood of mankind. The 

 starling is variegated, and is of the size of the blackbird. 



6. There are two kinds of ibis in Egypt ; the white and 

 the black. The white live in all the rest of Egypt, but 

 are not found in Pelusium. The black occur in Pelusium, 

 but not in other parts of Egypt. 



7. One kind of scops, called brown owl, is seen throughout 

 the year, but it is not eaten, for it is not fit for food. Others 

 occur sometimes in the autumn, when they appear for one, 

 or not more than two days. They are eatable, and are 

 highly esteemed. They differ in no respect from the brown 

 owl, except in fatness ; and they are silent, whereas the 

 other has a voice. No observations have ever been made 

 on their mode of generation, except that they appear when 

 the west wind blows. This is manifest. 



CHAPTER XX. 



1. THE cuckoo, as it has been already observed, makes no 

 nest, but lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, especially 

 in that of the phaps, and in those of the sparrow and 

 lark on the ground, and in the nest of the chloris in 

 trees. It lays one egg, upon which it does not sit, but 

 the bird in whose nest it lays both hatches the egg and 

 nurses the young bird ; and, as they say, when the young 

 cuckoo grows, it ejects the other young birds, which thus 

 perish. 



2. Others say that the mother bird kills them, and feeds 

 the young cuckoo with them ; for the beauty of the young 

 cuckoo makes her despise her own offspring. People assert 

 that they have been eye-witnesses of most of these circum- 

 stances, but all are not equally agreed as to the mode in 

 which the other young birds perish. Some persons say 



