130 THE BIKDS OF VIEGIL. 



notice however, first, that it is not the way of the Goldfinch to 

 sit in a thicket and sing, as Virgil describes the Acalanthis ; it 

 is a restless, lively, aerial bird, fond of singing on the wing, and 

 by no means disposed to lurk under cover ; and secondly, 

 that the word aKavBi] does not necessarily mean a thistle, but is 

 equally applied to all kinds of thorny trees and shrubs,^ such 

 as the dwmi in which Virgil makes the voice of the bird resound. 

 Where did Virgil get this Greek word acanthis^ or acalanthis, 

 which he thus appropriated to express some bird familiar to 

 himself ?' Probably from a very beautiful passage in Theocritus' 

 seventh Idyll, where, lying on the vine-leaves, Damoetas and 

 Daphnis hear the birds singing, and the murmur of the bees : — 



''Aeidov KopvSot Kal 6.feav$i5eSf effreve rpv^iiv, 



'this larks and the acantJiides were singing, and the turtle- 

 dove was moaning.' But what kind of bird was Theocritus 

 himself thinking of 1 Here we must have recourse to Aristotle, 

 who in his book on birds describes the bird known to the 

 Greeks as acanthis as beiag ' of poor colouring and habits, 

 but having a clear shrill voice.' ' This cannot possibly be the 

 Goldfinch, the happiest and most brightly coloured of our 

 smaller English birds ; one too whose song would hardly be 

 picked out to be described as \iyvpa, which word denotes a 

 sustained high and shrill sound, and would not well express 



^ TheophrastuB for example applies it to the Egyptian mimosa, the 

 thorns of which lately'proved bo damaging to our troops in the Soudan. 

 (Lenz, Botcmik der Gnechen, p. 735.) 



° There is another reading ' et acanthida.' 



' Kax60ios «al KaK6xpoos, ^avijv fiivToi \iyvpa,v txo"'"''. Sist. Anim. 

 ix. I'j. 



