BOOK X .] History of Nature. 2 1 5 



vered from the Pestilence of a Multitude of Flies, which 

 Flies died all at once on the very Day on which he was 

 appeased. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



What Birds do not exist in some Places ; and which change 

 their Colour and Voice : and of the Nightingale. 



BUT, concerning the Departure of Birds, Noctuae 1 also are 

 reported to lie hid for a few Days ; and of this kind there 

 are none in the Island of Crete. Even if any one is brought 

 there it dies. For this also is among the wonderful Differ- 

 ences of Nature ; she denies some Things to certain Places, 

 as the Kinds of Seeds and Fruits ; and so also that living 

 Creatures do not breed is commonly noted : but that those 

 Things should die as soon as they are brought thither is 

 wonderful. 2 What is that which is so contrary to the Health 

 of one Kind, or what is this Envy of Nature? or why should 

 Birds be restrained within any Limits in the whole Earth? 

 Rhodes doth not possess an Eagle. In the Tract of Italy 

 beyond the Po, near the Alps, there is a Lake which the 

 Inhabitants call Larius; and it is pleasant for Groves and 

 Fields ; and yet the Stork never travels thither ; nor within 

 the eighth Milestone from it. In the extensive Country of 

 the Insubres, 3 near adjoining, there are Swarms of Gracculi 4 

 and Monedulse; 5 which are the only Birds whose Thievishness 

 for Silver and Gold is wonderful. It is said, that in the 

 Territory of Tarentum there are no Woodpeckers. It is but 



1 A very small species of Owl: probably Noctua passerina, Cuv. 

 JElian, who confirms what Pliny says of this bird in Crete (B. v. ch. ii.), 

 distinguishes it from the Scops Owl, ch. xlix. Wern. Club. 



2 The instance of a similar nature in Ireland is a strong corroboration 

 of this ; and in explanation modern philosophy is as much at a loss as the 

 ancient. Wern. Club. 



3 A Gallic people, mentioned B. iii. ch. xvii. Wern. Club. 



4 The word " Graculus " is sometimes employed by the older writers 

 as a generic name : but when otherwise, it is commonly understood as the 

 Fregilus Graculus, Cuv.; Cornish Chough. The same with the Pyrrho- 

 corax, Ch. xlviii. Wern. Club. 



5 Corvus Monedula, LINN. Jackdaw. Wern. Club. 



