Rubicilla — Salus 1 6 1 



Of the Rubicilla. 



nvppotiXa<i^, rubicilla, in English a bulfinche, in German 

 eyn blodtfinck. 



Aristotle counts the Rubicilla among those birds which 

 feed on worms : but he does not describe it in more words. 

 I, following the derivation of the name, conjecture that it is 

 the Bulfinc of the English and the bloudvinc of the Germans. 

 For of all the birds I ever saw the male of this kind has by far 

 the reddest breast : the female however has the breast wholly 

 grey, though otherwise like the male. But, that all may 

 understand more easily about which bird I write, it is the 

 size of a Sparrow, with the beak particularly short and broad 

 and black, the tongue much broader than is in proportion to its 

 body. That part of the tongue which discriminates the flavour 

 of the food and meets the palate of the mouth is flesh- 

 coloured and naked, while the other parts are covered with 

 a horny pellicle. Bluish grey feathers clothe the upper parts. 

 The tail is black and the head also black. It feeds most 

 greedily on those earliest buds, which burst out on the trees 

 before the leaves and flowers, as well as hemp-seed. It is the 

 readiest bird to learn, and imitates a pipe very closely with 

 its voice. It nests in hedges where it lays four eggs or five at 

 most. It keeps the same colour throughout the year, and 

 does not change its home. And since these things are so, it 

 cannot be the Atricapilla, as some will have it, though it 

 may appear to lack the point at the tip of the tongue. 



Of the Salus, which in Greek is called aiyi6o<;. 



Aristotle. 



The Salus is well thought of for its skill in gaining 

 a livelihood, and for the number of its young, although 

 it suffers from lameness in one of its feet. And men 

 deny that the blood of the Salus and the Florus ever 

 mixes, for so great an enmity rages between the birds. 

 There is war also between the Salus and the Ass, 



1 Sundevall thinks that the TlvppovXas is the Redbreast, but the de- 

 scription does not agree with his idea. Another reading is wvppovpds. 



T. II 



