<t>Avl/ 4>OINIKOnTEPOI 



4>AErY'AI- 6 derts, Suid. fab gav66s, t&s, Hesych. Cf. Hes. Sc. H. 

 134 (vide infra). 



<frAE'EII. An unknown bird. 



Ar. Av. 882. Perhaps connected with (JjXeyuas, a name or ep. of 

 jjt6p<J>kos in Hes. Sc. H. 134, where it seems to mean the ' lightning bird/ 

 from <p\fy-<D, fulg-eo^ Sk. bharg, to shine. Cf. Steinthal, app. to 

 Goldzieher, Myth, of the Hebrews, p. 384 (ed. London, 1877). 



*OINIKO'nTEPOI. The Flamingo, Phoenicopterus antiquorum, L. 



Ar. Av. 271 *EII. OVTOS ov T&V rjdddav TO>I>' o>i/ opaff vfj,f1s del, | d\Xa 

 \ifj,valos. TIE. /3a/3at, KaXos ye KOI (froiviKiovs. 'ED. CIKOTMS' KOI yap oVo/z' 

 nvrfi> y' eo-ri (froiviKonTepos. This is the only reference to the bird 

 in classical Greek, and the identification here is at best doubtful. 

 The succeeding reference to the Cock might lead one to suspect that 

 under the name Phoenicopterus some bird less unlike the Cock than 

 the Flamingo is, was here alluded to : such a bird, for example, 

 as Porphyrio hyacinthinus, the Purple Water-hen (vide s. v. Trop^upiwy). 

 The question, however, is not capable of settlement. The Flamingo 

 occurs in Greece only as a rare straggler, though abundant on the 

 opposite coast of Asia Minor (Von der Miihle, p. 118 ; Lindermayer, 

 p. 155, c.). Cf. Gesner, H. Anim. lib. iii Mirum est huius tarn pul- 

 chrae et eximiae avis nomen ab Aristoteli taceri, cum Aristophanes, 

 qui vixit eadem aetate, meminerit ; sed Graecis etiam raram esse hanc 

 avem puto. Flamingos were seen, however, by Bory de St. Vincent, 

 in the marshes of Osman Aga near Navarino. 



Heliodorus, Aethiop. vi. 3 describes the bird as NeiXyov (powiKOTrrepov : 

 and the Scholiast ad Juv. xi. 139 states in like manner, abundans 

 est in Africa : it, apparently, is also mentioned as a dainty, by Philostr. 

 Vit. Apoll. Tyan. viii. p. 387 (ed. Paris, 1605) as opvts (powiKeos. 



In Crat. Nem. fr.4, ap. Athen. ix. 373 d opvis (poiviKO'irrepos, is probably 

 the Cock. 



It has been stated above, s. v. yXwrris, that Belon (Hist, des Oyseaux, 

 viii. 8) identified that bird with the Flamingo ; so also did Aldrovandi 

 (Ornithol. iii. 20, 4), with as little reason. To the opinion there ascribed 

 to Linnaeus, the following words of Gesner should have been sub- 

 joined : ego vero iis quas Gallinulas aquaticas nostri vocant avibus 

 Glottidem adnumero, quae omnes fissipedes sunt ; cf. also Scaliger 

 (in loc. Aristot.) Glottis autem quae sit nondum mihi constat ; ridiculum 

 quod quidam de Phoenicoptero ausus est pronuntiare. 



In Latin, references to the Flamingo are frequent and free from 

 doubt. Cf. Juv. xi. 139 et Scythiae volucres et phoenicopterus ingens ; 

 Martial, Ep. iii. 58, 14 nomenque debet quae rubentibus pennis ; ib. 

 xiii. 71 dat mihi penna rubens nomen ; Suet. Cal. 22, c., c. 



' That the Tongue of this Volatile was much commended, and in 



