20 THE KEPTILES OF EGYPT. 
to the land and lay down and opened its mouth, when water-birds, such as the Taitawi, 
the Hasani, the Shamirek, and other sorts, came to eat them, a story which was repeated 
by Makrizi l . 
It has been stated by Aristotle 2 and Pliny 3 , and repeated by some modern authors, 
that animal matter so accumulates about the teeth of the crocodile that birds are 
attracted by it, and even venture to pick it off from them. Considering the entire 
absence of movement in a reposing crocodile, this may possibly occur, but that a 
crocodile would refrain from closing its jaws on a bird that entered its mouth out of 
consideration for the service rendered by it, is too absurd to merit serious consideration. 
Burckhardt 4 also states that the crocodile brings up digested food from its stomach, 
and that a bird enters its mouth to feed upon it! The probability is that if any 
particular species of bird has the habit, many an individual has lost its life by so 
doing. 
The name commonly given to the smaller plovers by the ancient Greeks was 
Tgo^iAoc, the term applied by Herodotus to the little bird which he described as freeing 
the mouth of the crocodile of j3SeAAa. It is impossible, however, to say what species 
of bird Herodotus 5 and Aristotle 6 had in view. Pliny 7 , on the other hand, says that 
it was the bird known in Italy as the king of birds, viz. a wren ; but Plutarch 8 ascribed 
to it habits that rendered Pliny's supposition impossible, as he states that the bird 
delighted in the borders of marshes and rivers. Ammianus 9 , who was alive about 
390 a.d., and who has a reputation for accuracy, says no more than that the trochilus 
was a small bird ; while Macoudi 10 only speaks of it as a bird having the habit of 
approaching the crocodile and eating the worms that come out of its mouth. 
Cardano u , in his great work, speaks of the crocodile-bird as a wren, having 
apparently accepted Pliny as his authority ; but Scaliger 12 , in his bitter criticism of 
Cardano's work, pointed out that the bird was not a wren. Aldrovandus 13 , doubtless 
having in view Plutarch's description of the habits of the crocodile-bird, conjectured 
that it might be Charadrius gallicus, a suggestion that has not been adopted by any 
other author, although the habits of this bird are such that it is found in the localities 
frequented by basking crocodiles. 
Marmol u describes the bird as white in colour and of the size of a thrush ; and also 
says : " Ces oiseaux y entrent et sortent en toute assurance ; car quand mesme le crocodile 
voudroit refermer la gueule il ne pourroit, parceque la nature a donne a ces oiseaux une 
1 Descr. Topograph, et Hist, de l'Egypte, trad, par M. Bouriant, 1895, p. 189. 
2 Hist. Anim. ix. vii. 3. 3 Nat. Hist. Bk. viii. c. 37. ' Op. cit. p. 24. 
s Herod, ii. 68. c Hist des Anim. t. iii. 1883, par J. B. St.-Hilaire, p. 157. 
7 Hist. Nat. lib. viii. cap. 37. s CEuvres du Plutarque, <T. Amyot, 1784, xiii. p. 357. 
9 Ammian. Marcellinus, xxii. (Hamburg, 1609), p. 248. 10 Op. cit. i. pp. 235-6. 
11 De la subtilite et subfiles inventions &c, 1551 (French ed. 1556), p. 188. 
12 Exotericarum Exercit. Kb. xv. de subtil, ad H. Cardano, 1557, Exerc. 196, sect. 5. 
13 Ornith. tomus alter. (2) 1645, p. 649. " Op. cit. lib. i. cap. 22. 
