BOOK X. IX. 2I-X. 24 



gave primacy aniong auguries. The Roman name 

 for it is buteOy'^ which is also the surname of a family, 

 assumed because one perched on an admirars ship 

 with good omen. The Greeks give the name of 

 merlin to the only species that appears at every the merHn. 

 season, whereas all the others go away in winter. 

 The varieties of hawks are distinguished by their 

 appetite for food : some only snatch a bird ofF the 

 ground, others only one fluttering round a tree, 

 others one that perches high in the branches, others 

 one flying in the open. Consequently even the doves 

 know the risks that they run from hawks, and when 

 they see one they alight, or else fly upward, safe- 

 guarding themselves by going counter to the hawk's 

 nature. The hawks of the whole of Massaesylia 

 lay their eggs on the ground in Cerne,* an island of 

 Africa in the Ocean, and they do not breed elsewhere, 

 as they are accustomed to the natives of that island. 



X. In the district of Thrace inland from AmphipoUs HawHng. 

 men and hawks have a sort of partnership for fowhng : 

 the men put up the birds from woods and reed-beds 

 and the hawks flying overhead drive them down 

 again ; the fowlers share the bag with the hawks. 

 It is reported that when the birds have been put up 

 the hawks intercept them in the air, and when it is 

 time for a catch invite the sportsmen to take the 

 opportunity by their screaming and their way of 

 flying. Wolf-fish at the Maeotic Marsh act somewhat 

 in the same way, for unless they get their share from 

 fishermen they tear their nets when spread. 



Hawks do not eat the hearts of birds. The night- The night- 

 hawk is called cybindis ; it is rare even in forests, and ""^ ' 

 cannot see very well in the daytime. It wages war 

 to the death with the eagle, and they are often taken 

 clinging together in each other's clutches. 



307 



