MEAAMriYrOI— MEAEArPlI 115 



MEAEArPlI (continued). 

 Arist. H. A. vi. 2, 559 toat ttm yftiipa ra eJa t5>v p,eXeaypiba>v : cf. Aristoph. 

 H. A. Epit. i. 28 wot avrepwa. 



See also the description given by Columella, viii. 8, 2 Africana est 

 quam plerique Numidicam dicunt, meleagridi similis, nisi quod rutilam 

 galeam (paleam, emend. Newton) et cristam capite gerit, quae utraque 

 sunt in meleagride coerulea. This passage from Columella is very 

 interesting as showing that the Greek p-eXeaypis and the Roman Gallina 

 africana or numidica were different from one another, the latter having 

 a red wattle, the former a blue. This would look as though the \ieXea- 

 ypls had sprung from what is now called Numida ptilorhyncha, an 

 Abyssinian species, and had been brought to Athens by way of Egypt ; 

 while the Afra avis originated in the Nianida tneleagris of W. Africa. 

 See Newton, Diet, of Birds, p. 399, footnote. 



The fxe\eaypides mentioned, however, by Scylax, Periplus, were seen 

 beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in N. W. Africa, as were those men- 

 tioned by Mnaseas ; and these were doubtless, therefore, of the red- 

 wattled species. Strabo and Diodorus report the birds as inhabiting 

 an island in the Red Sea ; Sophocles (1. a), speaks of them poetically 

 as Indian. 



Mentioned as sacred birds, Clyt. Miles. I.e. nepl de to Upbv rrjs 



Uapdevov iv Aepat elalv ol KaXovp,evoi opviBes p,eXeaypi8es. Also in 

 Aetolia, Menodot. ap. Athen. xiv. 655 a. 

 Ael. iv. 42 : the metamorphosis of the sisters of Meleager ; 8<roi 



de apa albovvrai to delov Kai p.dXXov el ttjv "Aprepiv, ovk av ttotc rcovde 

 tcov opviBcov irrl rpo(prju Trpoaatyaivro, Kai rjrts rj alria 1<raal re ol rqv vrjerop 

 oIkovvtcs rfjv Aepov Kai 2muu p.a9elv aXXaxoOev. lb. V. T] ras 5' iv Aepco 

 p,ikeaypibas dno p.rjdev6s abiKeio~6ai tcov yapfytovvytov opvecov Xeyei "iorpof. 



Sacrificed at the temple of Isis in Tithorea (Phocis), Pausan. x. 31 

 (x. 32, 9, ed. Teubn.). 



Were kept also in the Acropolis : p.e\eaypi8cs' opveis at evepouro iv 

 rrj aKpowoXci, Hesych. opvea anep ivep.ovTO iv rrj aKporroXci' Xiyovai 6e 

 ol p,ev ddeX<pas tov MeXeaypov perafiaXelv els rets p.eXeaypi8as opvidas, ol 

 be ras o~vvrj6u.s 'loKaXXiftos rrjs iv Aepvr) napdevov, fjv Tip,(oai 8aip.ovia>9, 

 Suid., Phot. 



On the story of the metamorphosis, cf. Nicand. ap. Anton. Lib. 

 c. 1, Hygin. Fab. 174, Ovid, Met. viii. 534, Mart. iii. 58, 15, Lactant. 

 viii. 4. 



How the Meleagrides fought around the tomb of Meleager (cf. s. v. 

 fx^vwk) Plin. x. (26) 38, &c. 



For other references, see Antig. Caryst. xi ; Juv. xi. 142 ; Hor. Epod. 

 ii. 53 Afrae aves; Mart. iii. 58, 15 Numidicae guttatae ; xiii. 45 Libycae 

 volucres ; xiii. 75 ; Stat. Silv. i. 6, 78, ii. 4, 28 ; Suet. Calig. 22 (vide s. v. 

 TCTpdwi/); Petron. 93 ; Varro, De R. R. iii. 9, 18, &c. 



I 2 



