BOOK X.] History of Nature. 223 



In those Birds whose Toes are not fitted to clasp and convey 

 the Eggs, this is reported to be done after a strange Manner : 

 for they lay a Twig over two Eggs, and glue them fast with a 

 Cement from their own Bowels; they then put their Necks 

 under the middle, which, hanging equally poised on each 

 Side, they carry away to another Place. 



No less skilful are they that make their Nestling-cradles 

 in the Ground, as being forbidden by the Weight of their 

 Body to mount aloft. One is called Merops, 1 that useth to 

 feed her Parents as they lie hid. The inside of her Feathers 

 in the Wing is pale, the outside blue ; and those above about 

 the Neck, reddish. She maketh her Nest in a Hole six Feet 

 deep within the Ground. Partridges so fortify their Place of 

 deposit with Thorns and Twigs, that they are sufficiently 

 fenced against wild Beasts. They heap up over their Eggs a 

 covering of fine Dust; neither do they sit in the Place where 

 they laid them first, but lest their more frequent resort to it 

 should lead to Suspicion, they convey them to some other 

 Place. And, indeed, the Hens deceive also the Males ; for so 

 lecherous are they, that they break their Eggs, because they 

 may not be occupied about sitting. Then through desire 

 after the Hens, the Males fight among themselves ; and they 

 say that the one which is overcome, suffereth Venus. Trogus 

 reporteth the same of Quails, and sometimes of Dunghill 

 Cocks. He saith, also, that tame Partridges use to tread 

 the wild ; and those which are new taken or conquered by 

 others promiscuously. This libidinous Heat maketh them 

 so quarrelsome, that oftentimes it leads to their being taken. 

 For when the Fowler cometh with his Call, out goeth the 

 Leader of the whole Flock to fight him ; and when he is 

 caught, another followeth after, and so the rest one after 

 another. Again, they take the Females at the Time of the 

 Copulation ; for then forth they go against the female 



1 Merops apiaster, LINN. Bee-eater. ^Elian says, that the young of 

 this bird exceeds in piety the young of the Stork in the care with which 

 they feed their parents when worn out with age ; which Cuvier explains 

 from their remaining a long time in the same retreats with them. 

 Wern. Club. % 



