NEPTOI NYKTIKOPAE 1 1 9 



NOYMHNIOI (continued]. 



references vide s. v. drTayas). In all probability, vovufjvtos was some 

 bird associated with moon-worship ; we have an obscure indication 

 of a kindred symbolism in the case of array as, in the statement that 

 that bird is hostile to the Cock (Ael. vi. 45). That drrayds had some 

 mystical signification seems plain, though the precise allusion is 

 obscure : the frequent reference to the bird as TTOIK/XO?, and the state- 

 ment of its friendship with the Stag, may in time furnish a clue to the 

 mystery. For my part, I imagine I discern a stellar attribute in the 

 one bird, and a lunar in the other. Tradition, of doubtful antiquity, 

 associates the name Numenius with the Curlew, and it may well have 

 this or some similar bird with a decurved or crescentic bill. 



NYKTAl'ETOr opvis fepos'Hpaj, 6 *at epa>8ios, Hesych. Cf. J/UKTiKOpaf. 



NYKTIKO'PAE, s. i>uicToic6pa, Hesych. Probably the Horned or Long- 

 eared Owl, Strix o/us, L. ; but perhaps also applied to the 

 Night-Heron. 



Arist. H. A. viii. 12, 597 b evioi TOV wrbv vvKriKopaita Ka\oixnv (loc. dub.). 

 Ib. viii. 3, 592 b eri rtv WKrepiv&v evioi yap\ra)vvxes elcriv, olov vvKTiKopat;, 

 y\avg, jBpvas. Ib. ix. 34, 689 b y\avK.es de Ka\ WKTiKopaKfs, KOI ra \onra 

 ocra rrjS fjp-epas dSvvarel /SXeTTfiy, TI)S VVKTOS p.ev drjpevovra rr]V rpotforjv avrois 

 7ropi'er<u' fypevei fie pis Ka\ aavpus, K.T. X. Cf. Athen. viii. 353 a, where 

 in a similar passage, Kopaices = wKrinopaKes. 



Arist. H. A. ii. 17, 509 a7ro(pvd8as e'x. [The caeca are rudimentary 

 or absent altogether in the Herons ; they are large and conspicuous in 

 the Owls.] wKTiKopag is, therefore, in Arist. a nocturnal, rapacious bird, 

 identical with, or confounded with, euro?. It can scarcely be other than 

 the Long-Eared Owl. 



It corresponds to Heb. D13, an Owl, in Ps. 102. 6 (LXX). 



A bird of evil omen. Horap. ii. 25 wKriKopag Qavarov tr^/zaiVi* acpva 

 yap (nepxerat rols veovo-ols rav Kopwcov Kara ras vvKras, u>s 6 Bavaros afpvco 

 enpxTai. With this passage, cf. the legendary hostility of the Owl and 

 the Crows, s. vv. yXau|, Kopwi^] : there is, however, a very similar story 



Anth. Pal. XI. l86 WKTiKopat; qei 0avarrj(p6pov, dXX' ortiv qvrj | 

 6vr](TK.fL Kavros 6 vvKriKopag. Cf. the carmen ferale of the Owl, Virg. 

 Aen. iv. 462 : vide also s. v. j3uas. Cf. also Spenser's ' hoarse night- 

 raven, trompe of doleful drere,' c. 



A fabled metamorphosis, Boios ap. Anton. Lib. c. xv ; cf. j(apa8pi<5s. 



There is an old confusion between this bird and the Night- Heron, 

 Ardea nycticorax^ L. Gesner (ed. cit., p. 357), discussing the discrepant 

 opinions regarding wKriKopag, figures the Night-Heron, and adds, ' Wir 

 haben hierbey die Figur des Vogels gesetzt, welcher zu Strasburg ein 

 Nachtram anderswo ein Nachtrabe geheissen wird, welcher doch 



