FOURTH TO NINTH CENTURIES 17 
standard to the Roman legions and they had Owls on their 
coins. Unquestionably they had aviaries in England, were 
breeders of poultry, and kept more than one sort of fowl. It is 
an open question whether they brought the Peacock, which 
was not likely to have been introduced by the Saxons. That 
they brought the Pheasant there can be little doubt, as 
Professor Dawkins has long ago suggested.* Knowing their 
fondness for Geese, we may assume that they tried domesti- 
cating the Grey-lag Goose, which, being a resident in English 
fens, was not hard to come by. According to Horace, the 
liver of a white Goose fed upon figs was a dainty among 
the Romans, and Ovid tells of their being kept in lieu of 
house-dogs. Fosbroke,f the industrious antiquary, informs 
us that flocks of Geese were driven to the markets at Rome, 
even from Picardy and Flanders,—that Magpies were kept 
in barbers’ shops,—that Ostriches were made to fight with 
gladiators,—that the Romans imported Parrots, but apparently 
had only green ones,—that their epicures esteemed the tongue 
of the Flamingo, and still more Thrushes which had grown fat 
on figs (of which Italy can produce such abundant crops), 
a circumstance borne out by their own poets. ‘ Obeso nil 
melius turdo,” says one of them, the practical Horace, when 
enumerating the good things of the land.{ Even in those 
days white Blackbirds were not unknown and excited curiosity 
in the towns, where they were sold for the aviary rather than 
for eating. That the Romans had large aviaries cannot be 
doubted, and plenty of domestic Fowls, both in England and 
Italy ; indeed the method of fattening cocks by castration is 
supposed to have been introduced by them. They sometimes 
varied the bloody scenes of the amphitheatre by indulging 
in cock fights, but, unlike the Greeks, they were not greatly 
addicted to this form of sport, being more concerned with 
Quails for combat.$ 
* “ This,’ 1869, p. 358. 
+ ‘Eneyclopedia of Antiquities and Elements of Archaeology,” by 
T. D. Fosbroke (1825). 
+ Lib. I., Ep. XV., line 40. It is an opinion shared by all Italians to the 
present day, see the accounts of their Roccoli, given in the “ History of 
Fowling,” by H. A. Macpherson (pp. 101-106). 
§ ‘‘ Archaeologia,’’ 1786, p. 144. 
