250 The Birds of Virgil. 



passage about the Swallow that I have ever met 

 with in poetry. 



The hirundo of the Romans had of course a 

 generic sense, and included all the different species 

 of Martin and Swallow. When Virgil writes 

 (Georg. iv. 107) of the chattering hirnndo which 

 hangs its nest from the beams, he clearly means 

 the House-martin ; for the Swallow places his 

 upon the rafters, while the Martin does exactly 

 what Virgil describes. Both Aristotle and Pliny 

 distinguish three or more species of these birds, 

 the Swallow, Sand-martin, Swift, and possibly the 

 Crag-martin ; and their habits seem to have been 

 the same as at the present day. 



I shall not trouble my readers with any of 

 Virgil's passages 1 about the Hawks and Eagles, 

 in all of which he follows Homer more or less 

 closely. Nor need we pause to dw r ell on the 

 single passage in which he has mentioned the 

 Nightingale ; for, beautiful as it is, it is not only 

 based on Homer, but is inferior in truth to 

 Homer's lines. The older poet sings truthfully 

 of the Nightingale " sitting in the thick foliage 

 1 Aen. ix. 564; xi. 721, 751 ; xii. 247. 



