168 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 97 



he was a Greek I told him that I was an American, and his 

 interest was immediately and acutely aroused. Evidently he 

 had thought me to be English, as were the rest of the people 

 at that table. When we spoke of the Greek classics, he has- 

 tened to tell me that he was educated at Robert College and 

 learned his ancient Greek from an American. So in some 

 small ways is America repaying her debt to ancient Hellas. 



We became exceedingly popular in Thebes. A group of 

 school-boys found delight in listening to our strange speech, 

 and we wondered if they remarked that "the barbarians twit- 

 tered like birds," as said their Dodonasan ancestors thousands 

 of years ago. A bevy of children, among them a little girl 

 carrying a baby, followed us about for several hours. They 

 escorted us to the railway station and waited to see us off on 

 the late afternoon train. We certainly made a host of friends 

 that day. 



I had hoped that for seeing birds the Thebes trip would be 

 the best one taken. It was ; but this is saying very little. 

 There were seen Magpies, numbering about a dozen, a few 

 Hooded Crows and one or two of their black cousins, a 

 Crested Lark, a large Hawk, several female Chaffinches, a 

 Greenfinch, Sand Martins, and a few Swallows. These were 

 seen outside of Thebes. Within the village stands the ruins 

 of an old Frankish tower. About this tower, flying in and 

 out of its nooks and crannies, were several Jackdaws and at 

 least sixteen Kestrels. Eleven of the last named were in the air 

 at one time. A Christmas bird census for almost any place 

 in the United States would show a better record, yet this was 

 near the height of the spring migration, the distance traveled 

 from Athens was forty-five miles, the time was the entire day, 

 excepting the short periods spent within the museum and the 

 school-house. 



To mighty Zeus, the all-powerful, but a single bird, the 

 eagle, was held sacred. While to some of the lesser deities 

 a whole avian collection was sacred : to Hera the hawk, goose, 

 cuckoo, and later the peacock ; to Aphrodite the dove, swan, 

 swallow and sparrow ; to Phcebus-Apollo the hawk, raven. 



