BOOK X.] History of Nature. 1 89 



first named by the Greeks Melanaetos, which is the same as 

 Valeria : the least in size, but the strongest, and in Colour 

 black : in the whole Race of Eagles, she alone feedeth her 

 young : for the rest (as we shall say hereafter) beat them 

 away : she only crieth not, nor keepeth a-grumbling ; and 

 she keepeth commonly on the Mountains. Of the second 

 Sort is Pygargus. It keepeth about Towns and Plains, and 

 hath a whitish Tail. The third is Morphnos, which Homer 

 calleth also Percnos. Some name it Plancns and Anataria: 1 

 the second in Bigness and Strength, loving to live about 

 Lakes. Phcemonne, who was said to be the Daughter of 

 Apollo, hath reported, that this Eagle has Teeth ; otherwise 

 mute, and without Tongue : also, of all others she is the 

 blackest, and hath the longest Tail. With this agrees 

 Botthius. She is subtle ; for when she hath seized on Tor- 

 toises, she throweth them down from aloft to break their 

 Shells. It was the Fortune of the Poet ^Eschylus to die by 

 such Means. For it is said to have been foretold by the 

 Fates that he should be killed on a given Day by something 

 falling from the Sky ; which he guarded against by trusting 

 to the Safety of the open Sky. Of the fourth Kind is Perc- 

 nopterus, the same as Oripelargus , a kind of Vulture with 

 very small Wings, a Body bigger than the rest ; but a very 



notice. It is also probable, from Ch. xv., that the works of the ancient 

 naturalists were illustrated with representations of the objects referred to, 

 although no such copies have come down to our times. 



Eagles: Malanaetos, Valeria; Falco fulims, Cuv. The common Eagle. 



Gnesios: F.fufous,\n perfect plumage. The Golden Eagle. 

 Besides which, there is F. imperialis, Cuv., or Eagle of the Sun ; a more 

 powerful bird than the former, and to which Cuvier assigns the stories 

 concerning the Eagle to be found in the books of the ancients. 



Pygargus: perhaps Falco albicilla, LINN. 



Haliatos: Halicetus ossifragus^ Cuv. Fishing Eagle, or Osprey. The 

 Falco H. of Linneus is the Pandion H. of Cuvier. 



Barbata: ossifraga: Falco barbatus, GMELIN; Gypaetos barbatus, Cuv. 



Morphnos, &c., is said by Cuvier to bean undetermined species. 



Percnopterus : the large and small Vultures may be Vultus cinereus, 

 and V. percnopterus, LINN. Wern. Club. 



1 For killing of ducks and mallards. 



