248 The Birds of Virgil. 



The words mergi and fulicae in these lines have 

 been the subject of much discussion among com- 

 mentators. That Virgil meant by mcrgus some 

 particular bird known to himself, there can be little 

 doubt ; for he has transferred to the mcrgns what 

 Aratus (here his original) says of the Heron 

 (spco^o's). And rightly so ; for the Heron never 

 goes out to sea to fish, as it needs standing ground 

 and is no swimmer. This mergus stands probably 

 for the Gull in a generic sense ; Virgil had doubt- 

 less seen them flying to the Campanian coast 

 before a coming storm, and altered Aratus accord- 

 ingly. The fulica marina is translated by Mr. 

 Blackmore ' sea-coot,' which is correct but mean- 

 ingless, and by Mr. Rhoades * 'cormorant'; but 

 in this case we have no means of determining the 

 species of which the poet was thinking. He used 



The wave already scarce foregoes the hull 

 When homeward from the offing flies the gull, 

 With screams borne inland by the blast ; and when 

 Sea-coots play round the margin of the fen ; 

 The heron quits the marsh where she was bred 

 And soars upon a cloud far overhead. 



1 Following Keightley's Commentary, which is the best we 

 possess on Georg. i. 351-423. 



