Passeres \ 3 5 



Greeks discovered. First of these three is Passer torquatus, 

 differing from the common Passer not alone in its white 

 collar, but also its note and mode of nesting. This kind is 

 plentiful in Germany, but rare among the English. The 

 second Passer is called in the Supplement' the Great, and 

 for the most part it is wont to sit on the top boughs of trees. 

 For several reasons I consider this to be the Bunting of 

 the English and the Gersthammer of Germans. The third 

 Passer, unknown to Aristotle, is the Passer troglodytes, fully 

 recognised by Paulus .(Egineta and Aetius, doctors of great 

 renown. And so what sort of bird it is will easily be seen by 

 everyone from Paulus and Aetius, and their descriptions 

 I will forthwith add. 



Paulus ^gineta^ of the Passer troglodytes. 

 There is a remedy most highly prized besides 

 these, namely Troglodytes : this is nothing but a little 

 Sparrow, the least of all birds, with the exception only 

 of that kind which is called Regulus. It is a little 

 bigger than that bird alone, and similar to it : in 

 colour between grey and green, and with a slender 

 bill. It lives chiefly in walls and hedges. 



AetiusI 

 The Troglodytes is the very least of Sparrows, 

 seeking for its food near hedges and near walls. 

 This little animal moreover is the smallest of all little 

 birds, except that which is called Regulus, while it is 

 like the Regulus in many ways, save that it has not 

 golden-coloured feathers on the forehead. The Passer 

 troglodytes is a little larger and blacker than the Re- 

 gulus ; it always has its tail cocked up, which is spotted 

 behind with white. Likewise it is more noisy than the 



1 It seems impossible to ascertain what this Auctuarium was. 



2 A medical writer of j^gina, whose chief work was De Re Medica 

 Libri Septem. 



3 A Greek medical writer of Amida in Mesopotamia who wrote Bi/aXiu 

 'iarpiKa 'EKKaiSena. 



