NIGHT-CROW.] NATURAL HISTORY. 215 



hinder legs, and looketh directly in the face of him that 

 hath stirred it, and so continueth till all the body be white, 

 through a kind of white humour or poison, that it swelleth 

 outward, to harm (if it were possible) the person that did 

 provoke it. And by this is their venomous nature observed 

 to be like the salamander, although their continual abode 

 in the water maketh their poison the more weak. There 

 be some Apothecaries which do use this Newt instead of 

 skinks or crocodiles of the earth, but they are deceived in 

 the virtues and operation, and do also deceive other, for 

 there is not in it any such wholesome properties, and there- 

 fore not to be applied without singular danger. 



Topsell, " History of Serpents," pp. 744. 



EWTS' eggs be like to serpents' eggs, but they be less 

 in quantity, and more glimy [gluey] ; and be venomous, 

 but they be less venomous than serpents' eggs. 



Bartholomew (Bertbelet}, bk. xix. 101. 



V. Lizard. 



Night-crow [= Night-heron]. 



iii. KING HENRY VI., v. 6, 45. 



THE Night-crow loveth the night, and fleeth and seeketh 

 his meat by night, and crieth in seeking, and their cry is 

 hateful and odious to other birds. And they eat the eggs 

 of doves and choughs, and fight with them. Also this bird 

 hight Noctua [i.e., the owl ?] ; by night she may see, and 

 when shining of the sun cometh, her sight is dim. The 

 Island of Crete hath not this bird ; if he cometh thither 

 out of other lands, he dieth anon. 



Bartholomew (Berthelei), bk. xii. 27. 



THIS kind of owl is dog-footed, and covered with hair; 

 his eyes are like the glistering ice ; against death he useth 

 a Strange whoop. Batman's addition to Bartholomew, ut supra. 



BY night (as the vulgar think) the Night-crow seemeth 

 with its hateful cry to portend the death of men. It is 

 pleased with the human voice. The Night-crow is an anti- 

 dote to bees, wasps, hornets and leeches. Its eggs given 



