Tinnunculus — Tetrao 167 



Of the Tinnunculus. 



Ke7xpt9, tinnunculus, in English a kistrel or a kastrel, or 

 a steingall. 



Aristotle. 



All birds with crooked claws' breed somewhat 

 sparingly, save the Tinnunculus, and it of all the 

 crooked-claw kind lays the most eggs. For of this 

 bird four young have been already found, while it is 

 evident that more might be produced. The stomach 

 in Tinnunculus is not unlike a crop, whereas it is the 

 only one of all the crooked-claw kind that drinks. Its 

 eggs are red — like scarlet. 



The Tinnunculus is of a much more fulvous colour than 

 are other Hawks, and small in body. It chases little birds, 

 and, as some men have told me, butterflies at times. It nests 

 in hollow trees, church walls, and lofty towers, as I have 

 seen in Germany at Strassburg and at Cullen, and in England 

 at Morpeth. It also feeds its young long after they can fly 

 until such time as they can live apart by hunting for them- 

 selves. 



Of the Tetrao. 



Tirpt^, ovpa^, tetrao, in English a bustard or a bistard, in 

 • German eyn trap or eyn trap ganss. 



Aristotle. 



The Tetrix, which Athenians call the Urax, trusts 

 its nest not to the ground, nor to a tree, but to low- 

 growing plants. 



Pliny. 



Their glossy plumage well becomes the Tetraones, 

 as does furthermore their perfect blackness and the 

 scarlet redness of their eyebrows. But one kind 

 exceeds in size the vultures and recalls their colour- 



1 For Aristotle's groups of Birds see p. 35. 



