CYNEGETICA, III. 109-133 



heart : not alone in men who de\'ise all things by 

 their -wits but even in creeping things and fish and 

 the ravenous wild beasts themselves and the high- 

 ranging flocks of birds : so much is nature mightier 

 than all beside. What care doth the Dolphin " amid 

 the waves take evermore of its children, and the 

 bright-eyed Glaucus ^ and th© Seal " of evil smell ! 

 And how among the fowls of air do they cherish 

 unfailing love for their own children — the Giers ** and 

 the deep-noted Doves and the tribes of the Eagle 

 and the long-lived Crow ! And the domestic mother 

 Hen, companion of the homes of men, fluttering 

 about her new-hatched chicks, how, when she sees 

 a Hawk swooping do\\"n over the roof, doth she 

 straightway utter a piercing scream and spring up 

 with shrill cry and lift her arching neck high into 

 the air and speedily ruffle all her plumage and droop 

 her wings to the ground, while the poor chickens 

 cheeping cower together beneath the bulwark of her 

 wings ; and speedily she routs and drives away the 

 shameless bird, defending her dear children, still 

 infants whom she feeds, unfledged and newly de- 

 livered from the bondage of the chambers of birth.* 

 So also among wild beasts roaring Lionesses and 

 swift Leopards and Tigers of striped back stand 

 forward to defend their children and fight with 

 hunters and for their young ones are prepared to 

 die, joining issue with the spearmen face to face ; 



geier, M.G. o^vd etc., the ons of Lev. xi. 13; Deut. xiv. 

 12. Cf. A. 563 a 27, 592 b 5, 619 a 13, b 23 ff. ; Plin. x. 11 

 genus aquilae quam barbatam vocant, Tusci vero ossifragara ; 

 X. 13; Horn. Od. ill. 372; xvi. 217. 



• The reader will remember St. Matt, xxiii. 37 xtxra/cis 

 TjdiXricra iTTicrvvayayflv to. reuva ffov, 5v rpoirov 6pvis eTrKTUfd^ei 

 TO. poffffia avriji inrb rdj irrepvyas, Kai ovk rj$e\ri<TaTe. 



123 



