VII Aristotle on Birds 179 



show you that he had got at least as far as the sage 

 of Selborne : — " All animals have a natural sensitive- 

 ness respecting heat and cold, and like men who seek 

 cold places in the summer and warm places in the 

 winter, so animals, if they can, migrate from place to 

 place. Some are indeed always resident in their 

 accustomed places ; but others migrate, flying from 

 the approaching winter at the autumn equinox, 

 and at the spring equinox returning to the colder 

 countries from dislike of the heat. Some migrate 

 but a short distance, others, e.g. the Cranes, come from 

 the ends of the earth; for these travel from the 

 plains of Scythia (i.e. southern Eussia) to the marshes 

 of Upper Egypt whence the Nile flows {i.e. the 

 Soudan). There the Pigmies are said to dwell ; and 

 this is no fairy-tale, but there is in reality a race of 

 little men and horses who live in holes in the earth. 

 The Pelicans also migrate, and fly from the Strymon 

 to the Danube, where they breed. . . . The fish also 

 migrate, some into the Black Sea and back again, 

 some in the winter from the deep sea to the land, 

 seeking the warmth of the shore, and vice versd. The 

 weaker kinds of birds too descend in winter and frost 

 to the plains for the sake of warmth, and return in 

 the summer. . . . The Wood-pigeon and Stock-dove 

 leave us, and do not winter with us ; and so does the 

 Turtle-dove ; but the Eock-dove stays with us all the 

 winter. The same is the case with the Quail, though 



