l6 A GLOSSARY OF GREEK BIRDS 



A I rOK E4>AAOI (continued]. 



former thinks it possibly identical with alyodrjKas. According to Scaliger 

 p. 2$I ) alyoKe(j)a\os = aiya>\ios. In both passages cited above alyoicecpaXos 

 is mentioned along with yXau, and the name suggests a Horned Owl 

 (sic Scaliger, Lidd. and Sc., &c.). For other suggestions, see Newton, 

 Diet, of Birds, p. 365, s. v. Godwit. 



Al'nmiO'Z. A Vulture. 



Etymology very doubtful. The analogy of Lammergeier suggests a 

 compound of ai or oiV (Curt.) and yv^, but the word is probably much 

 more primitive and ancient. I suspect that most of the remarkably 

 numerous bird-names beginning with al- (many of which are peculiarly 

 difficult to identify, a circumstance suggesting their generic rather than 

 specific character), contain an element akin to avi-s^ Sk. vi-s (v. deros), 

 and in this case that yfy is the shortened or derived form. The dialectic 

 form afy/TTor//- is interesting in this connexion. 



Horn, frequent, with ep. dy<v\oxfi\r}Sj ya^5>w^. Not merely a car- 

 rion-eater (as in Hes. Sc. 405-412), but attacks live birds (II. xvii. 460, 

 Od. XX. 322, cf. Soph. Aj. 169 .... pcyav alyvmov VTroSeurai/re?). Arist. 

 H. A. ix. I, 609 b /ua^erou dera>' TroXe/uos auraXam. A portent of aiyvirioi 

 in chase of ipq/cey in the Persian war, Herod, iii. 76 ; cf. Baehr's note. 

 Is feared by rpwyXiVijs-, Phile 692. Sometimes distinguished from yty, 

 Ael. ii. 46 V peOopico yvTTwv flat KCU aerwf, elvat KCU cippevas, KOI rrjv xpoav 

 TrffyvKfvcu p.f\avas (cf. Phil. De An. pr. 127) : Nic. Ther. 406 alyviriol yinres 

 re. Pallad. Alex, xx, in Gk. Anthol. iii. p. 119 KOI TOV peit TITVOV Kara 

 yrjs 8vo yvrres fdovaiv, rjnas Se U>VTO.S Tf&orapes alyvmoi. Cf. Lob. Path. j. 

 p. 87. 



The metamorphosis of Aegypius and Neophron into alyvnioi xpoav de 

 KCU p,eye6os ov% O/JLOLOI, dXXa eXarrcoj/ opvis alyvrrLos eyevero N6O0p&)j/, Boios 

 ap. Anton. Lib. Met. v ; the smaller species here alluded to is the 

 White or Egyptian Vulture, the Neophron percnopterus of modern 

 authors : vide s. vv. yuxj/, irepKi/oVrepos. 



The <f)i\ocrTopyia of alyvmos, as also of (prjvTj, celebrated in Od. xvi. 216, 

 Aesch. Ag. 49, Opp. Hal. i. 723, c., is connected with the Egyptian 

 association of the Vulture with the goddess of Maternity (cf. Horap. 

 i. ii). 



alyvmos is apparently the poetic name, applied to the various species 

 which frequent the battle-field, and on the other hand applied to an 

 Eagle in such passages as II. xvii. 460. That the word is an old and 

 antiquated one seems to be meant by Suidas : alyvmov' OVTWS ol -n-aKmoi, 

 dXX* ov yvrra. Cf. Bekk. An. 354. 28, Rutherford, New Phryn. p. 19. 



Al'm'AIOI. Also alyoXios, and aircaXios (Bk., Ar. vi. 6. 3). An Owl. 

 Arist. H. A. viii. 3, 592 b, a nocturnal rapacious bird, mentioned with 

 and o-Kco^, and resembling the former (in size) : &/peuet ras 



