66 EX VIRIBUS VI VIM US. 



lesser than beasts ; for an eagle or swan is but a 

 small thing in comparison of an ox or horse, and so 

 is an ostrich to an elephant. 



17. Birds are excellently well clad, for feathers, 

 for warmth and close sitting to the body, exceed wool 

 and hairs. 



18. Birds, though they hatch many young ones 

 together, yet they bear them not all in their bodies 

 at once, but lay their eggs by turns, whereby their 

 fruit hath the more plentiful nourishment whilst it is 

 in their bodies. 



19. Birds chew little or nothing, but their meat is 

 found whole in their crops, notwithstanding they will 

 break the shells of fruit and pick out the kernels ; 

 they are thought to be of a very hot and strong con- 

 coction. 



ao. The motion of birds in their flying is a mixed 

 motion, consisting of a moving of the limbs, and of a 

 kind of carriage, which is the most wholesome kind 

 of exercise. 



21. Aristotle noted well touching the generation of 

 birds (but he transferred it ill to other living crea- 

 tures), that the seed of the male confers less to gene- 

 ration than the female, but that it rather affords 

 activity than matter ; so that fruitful eggs and un- 

 fruitful eggs are hardly distinguished. 



22. Birds (almost all of them) come to their full 

 growth the first year, or a little after. It is true, that 

 their feathers in some kinds, and their bills in others, 



