Galerita Galli and Gallince 83 



and the non-crested) has no song of its own, but feebly 

 imitates the notes of other birds with which it feeds, I am 

 assuredly led to believe that it must be the Corydos of the later 

 Greeks, of which mention is made in the proverb below : 



'Ez>a//,oto-4<? KOI o KOpvSos </>0eyyeTat, 

 and in this verse : 



64 KVKVto Svvarai /copuSo? irapaTr\r)aiov aSeiv. 

 For the larger Galerita sings fairly and sweetly, and the 

 fowlers say that in its song the smaller kind is worth no 

 less. Wherefore the third kind, since it has no power of 

 voice except feebly to imitate the voices of the others by a 

 twitter of its own, will be the Corydos of the later Greeks. 



OF THE GALLI AND GALLING. 



'AXeKTcop, gallus, in English a cok, in German eyn han. 

 'A\e/crop4<?, gallina, in English a hen, in German eyn hen. 

 The Saxons say eyn hon. 



VARRO, IN HIS THIRD BOOK DE RE RUSTICA. . 



The wild Gallinae are rare in a city, and are 

 scarcely seen at Rome tame, unless in a cage : they 

 are not in appearance like the Gallinse of our country- 

 houses, but in look recall the African, and have the 

 face unmarked 1 . During public festivities these birds 

 are wont to be exhibited with Psitaci, white Merulse, 

 and other unfamiliar kinds of that description. They 

 do not usually lay their eggs or hatch their young at 

 country-houses, but among the woods. 



The African Gallinse, which the Greeks call Mele- 

 agrides, are big, speckled, and hunch-backed. They 

 have been the last to enter the dining room of eating- 

 houses from the kitchen through people's fastidiousness. 

 And from their rarity they have advanced to a great 

 price. Of the three kinds those of the country-house 

 are chiefly fattened. These they keep shut up in 



1 It is impossible to reconcile the statements of Varro and Columella 

 as they stand. Various alterations of the text, which is possibly unsound, 

 have been suggested. 



62 



