NEPT02— NYKTIKOPAE 1 19 



NOYMHNIOI {continued). 

 references vide s. v. dircr/as). In all probability, vovprjvios was some 

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

 of a kindred symbolism in the case of drrayds, in the statement that 

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

 mystical signification seems plain, though the precise allusion is 

 obscure : the frequent reference to the bird as 7toikI\os, 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'ETOI' opvis Upbs "Upas, 6 Kai epabios, Hesych. Cf. i>UKTiKopa§. 



NYKTIKO'PAE, s. kUKTOKopaf, Hesych. Probably the Horned or Long- 

 eared Owl, Strix otus, L. ; but perhaps also applied to the 

 Night-Heron. 



Arist. H. A. viii. 12, 597 b tvioi rbv cotov vvKTiKopaKa Kakovaiv (loc. dub.). 

 lb. viii. 3, 59 2D * rl T ^ v vvKTepiv<ov eviot yaptyavvxts Aw, oiov WKTiicopat;, 

 •yXau£, ^pvas. lb. ix. 34, 689 b yXavKes de Kai WKTinopaices, Kai to. \onra 

 ova rrjs fjpepas ddwarel (Sherreiv, Tijs vvktos pev Orjpevovra rqv rpo(f)f]v avrois 

 Tropi£(TaC Srjpevei de p.vs Kai aavpas, k.t.X. Cf. Athen. viii. 353 a, where 

 in a similar passage, KopaKes = wKTiKopaKes. 



Arist. H. A. ii. 17, 509 dnocpvdSas fjpn. [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, tiros. 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 vvKTiKopat- ddvarov aqpuiivei' a(pvco 

 yap cnepx*Tai rots veoaaots ra>v Kopwvcov Kara, ras vvktos, a>s 6 ddvaros d<pvco 

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

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

 of e;pw8i6$. 



Anth. Pal. xi. 186 vvKTiKopa£ aSei Oavarrjcpopov, d\K' otuv qo-rj | Arjp6q)i\os, 

 Ovqo-Kei Kalros 6 wKTKopag. Cf. the carmen ferale of the Owl, Virg. 

 Aen. iv. 462 : vide also s. v. |3uas. Cf. also Spenser's ' hoarse night- 

 raven, trompe of doleful drere,' &c. 



A fabled metamorphosis, Boios ap. Anton. Lib. c. xv ; cf. xapaSpios. 



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 wKTiKopag, 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 



