BOOK X.] History of Nature. 209 



Cranes, when tamed, are very playful ; and they will, one by 

 one, dance round with an odd sort of Walk. It is certain 

 that when they are about to take flight over the Pontus, 

 they will fly first of all to the Straits between the two 

 Capes, Criu-Metophon and Caranibis, and then presently 

 they steady themselves with Ballast. When they have 

 passed the middle they fling away the Stones from their 

 Feet; and when they are come to the Continent they dis- 

 gorge the Sand from their Throat. 



Cornelius Nepos, who died when Divus Augustus was 

 Sovereign, where he wrote, That a little before his Time 

 Men began to fatten the captured Thrushes, adds, That 

 Storks were held for a better Dish than Cranes. But now, 

 no Man will touch (a Stork) ; while the Crane is sought after 

 among the principal Delicacies. From whence these Storks 

 should come, or whither they return, is not yet known. No 

 doubt they come from remote Countries, and in the same 

 manner as the Cranes ; only that the Cranes are our Guests 

 in Winter, and the Storks in Summer. When they are 

 about to depart they assemble in a Place appointed, and 

 they form such a Company that not one of the Kind is left, 

 unless it be some one that is not at Liberty. They take their 

 Departure on the given Day, as if by an established Law. 

 Although it appeared that they were about to remove, yet 

 no Man hath seen the Flock as it went ; neither do we see 

 them come, but we know that they are come, and they do 

 the one and the other always by Night. And although they 

 fly away and return, yet they are supposed never to have 

 arrived anywhere but in the Night. There is a Place in the 

 open Plains of Asia, called Pithonos-Come, where they 

 assemble, and make a murmuring Noise among themselves, 

 and tear in Pieces that one which was the last to arrive; and 

 then they depart. It hath been noted, that after the Ides of 

 August they are not easily seen there. 



Some affirm that Storks have no Tongues. So highly 

 are they respected for destroying Serpents, that in Thessaly 

 it was a capital Crime to kill a Stork, and by Law he is 

 punished the same as for slaying a Man. 



VOL. in. p 



