50 A GLOSSARY OF GREEK BIRDS 



r*Y* {continued). 



yvyjs is, like alyvmos, a generic word for Vulture. In Arist. H. A. 

 viii. 3, 592 b, two species are distinguished, 6 peu fxiKpbs ko\ eKhevKorepos, 

 6 8e fxel{oip ko\ (nrodoeideo-repos. Four vultures occur in Greece, Gypaetus 

 barbatus, the Lammergeier, Vultur fulvus, the Griffon Vulture, V. cine- 

 reus, the Black or Cinereous Vulture, and Neophron percnopterus. 

 Sundevall and others have tried to apportion among these four the 

 names (pTjvrj, nepwonTepos, and the two varieties mentioned of yv^r. 

 But I think it certain that here the small white Neophron is meant 

 as the one variety, and that the larger darker sort includes the other 

 three. The true Vultures were usually spoken of as dark-coloured or 

 black ; e. g. Plin. x. 6 vulturum praevalent nigri, cf. Phile 130 ; Juv. Sat. 

 xiii vulturis atri poena ; Senec. in Thyeste, visceribus atras pascit 

 effossis aves. 



ra>. A Macedonian name for the Jackdaw = koKoios, Hesych. 



AA'KIA' to. aypia opviddpia, Hesych. 



AAKNl'l, Hesych. An unknown bird. Also bawds, Festus: Dagnades 

 sunt avium genus, quas Aegyptii inter potandum cum coronis 

 devincire soliti sunt, quae vellicando morsicandoque et canturiendo 

 assidue non patiuntur dormire potantes. 



AA'NAAAOI* 6 ipiBaKos, to opveov, Hesych. 



AEl'PHI. A name for the Sparrow in Elis. Nicander ap. Athen. 

 ix. 392 a. 



AlTHPEI- o-TpovOoi, Hesych. Cf. 8pTJY € s- 



Al'KAIPON, also diKaiop (Ael. iv. 41) = Arab, zikanon. An Indian 

 1 bird ' as large as a Partridge's egg, whose dung causes a pain- 

 less death like sleep; Ctesias p. 313, Ael. iv. 41, Phile, De 

 Anim. Propr. 33 (32), v. 761. The 'bird' was the Dung-beetle, 

 Scarabaeus sacer, L., Arab, zikanon; the 'dung' was probably 

 confounded with charas, a resinous preparation of Indian hemp. 

 Vide Valentine Ball, Indian Antiq. xiv. p. 310, 1885; also Proc. 

 R. I. Acad. (2) ii. 



AI'KTYI* 6 Iktwos, vno Aanavcov, Hesych. : cf. IktIs. The word is more 

 than doubtful as a bird-name, and is applied to a Libyan animal 

 by Herod, iv. 192. 



APAKONTI'I. An unknown or fabulous bird, into which one of the 

 nine Emathidae, daughters of Pierus, was metamorphosed; 

 Nicand. ap. Anton. Lib. Met. c. 9. 



