BOOK X. XXVIII. 55-xxx. 59 



cinnamon in a bronze bowl, covered with a quantity 

 of snow and steeped in the icy mixture, to supply 

 the famous medicine that is called after the tribe 

 Commagenum. 



XXIX. To the goose kind belong the sheldrake and Varieties of 

 the barnacle-goose, the latter the most sumptuous '^frid!''^^ 

 feast that Britain knows ; both are rather smaller 



than the goose. The black grouse also makes a 

 fine show with its gloss and its absolute blackness, 

 with a touch of bright scarlet above the eyes. 

 Another vai-iety of these exceeds the size of vultures 

 and also reproduces their colour, nor is there any 

 bird except the ostrich that attains a greater weight 

 of body, growing to such a size that it is actually 

 caught motionless on the ground. They are a product 

 of the Alps and the northern region. When kept 

 in fishponds they lose their flavour, and obstinately 

 hold their breath till they die. Next to these are 

 the birds that Spain calls tardae and Greece 

 otides,"' which are condemned as an article of diet, 

 because when the marrow is drained out of their 

 bones a disgusting smell at once follows. 



XXX. The race of Pygmies have a cessation of The crane— 

 hostihties on the departure of the cranes that, as " ^^^"■'^- 

 we have said,** carry on war with them. It is a vast 

 distance, if one calculates it, over which they come 



from the eastern sea. They agree together when to 

 start, and they fly high so as to see their route in 

 front of them ; they choose a leader to follow, and 

 have some of their number stationed in turns at the 

 end of the Hne to shout orders and keep the flock 

 together with their cries. At night time they have 

 sentries who hold a stone in their claws, which if 

 drowsiness makes them drop it falls and convicts 



329 



