Birds by the Wayside 163 



chard, and grain-field. He shows that the time for the per- 

 formance of many annual duties was based on the migratory 

 appearance of certain birds. That mercy was not shown the 

 birds because of their beneficial services is made clear in his 

 arraignment of mankind by a bird represented as speaking 

 in this fashion : "and has exposed me to an impious race, 

 which, from the time it existed, has been hostile to me." 

 Again he has one of his characters, addressing the birds, de- 

 scribe in this wise the warfare made on them by men : "And 

 they shoot at you, even like those who are mad ; and every 

 ^ bird-catchen sets snares, traps, li;iedftwigs, springs, meshes, 

 nets, and trap-cages for you in the temple ; and then they take 

 and sell you in heaps." The internal evidences of this comedy 

 are that in the days of Aristophanes birds were more plenti- 

 ful than now. Whatever degree of admiration tinges the mind 

 toward things Hellenic, the friend of birds must admit that 

 they have had a hard time for ages, and that it is small won- 

 der that so few have escaped the fowler's net. 



Nearly a century after Aristophanes wrote "The Birds" 

 Aristotle was engaged in compiling his cyclopedia of human 

 knowledge of natural history. He names about 150 species 

 of birds, scarcely one-hundredth part of the world's species 

 now known to science. There appears a great disparity be- 

 tween the knowledge of birds' anatomy and that of their 

 habits. The Bee-eater is especially cited as the only family 

 known to nest in burrows in the ground, while the myth con- 

 cerning the Kingfisher is given due prominence as an orni- 

 thological statement. In truth, there w^re strange mingling 

 of facts and fancies then as there are today. An illustration 

 of this is furnished by Aristotle's story that "all birds with 

 crooked talons, as soon as their young can fly well, beat them 

 and drive them from the nest." This has a counterpart in 

 the fancies of the people of today, who see parent birds dang- 

 ling worms temptingly out of reach of their nestlings, and 

 whose imaginations are so lively they can almost hear a 

 parent bird say: "Come little ones, it is time three of you 

 were out of the nest. All smart youngsters of our family 



