* 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



261 



GALLING. 



Found in Cyprus. 



1. Meleagris Gallopavo 



2. Phasianus Gallus Tmeivog 



3. Tetrao Rufus tt^mm 



Names in ])arts of Greece. 



In Thessal. p-Ep-a. 

 In Thessal. Id. 



Notes by the Editor. 



1. Meleagris Gallopavo. The turkey was entirely unknown to the ancients; America 

 is its native country. — Beckmann, ii. 390. 



There is no mention made of the Guinea fowl, Numida Meleagris, by Dr. Sibthorp ; it 

 was a bird well known to the ancients, and not uucommon, we may suppose, in the time 

 of Pausanias, lib. x., who says that it was an offering in the mysteries of Isis, of persons in 

 a moderate condition of life. The Greeks expressed the screaming of this bird by 

 x«yx«^5iv. The description given by Clitus, the disciple of Aristotle (see Athen. lib. xiv. 

 c. 71 • Schn.) was properly applied to the Guinea fowl by Paulmier, contrary to the expla- 

 nation of Casaubon and Scaliger. Nor is there any mention of peacocks as seen now in 

 Greece; these birds were first brought into Athens by Demus, son of Pyrilampes, who 

 bred them in his volaries: See Gray on the Gorgias of Plato; they were more common 

 in Greece after the time of Alexander, and we find them represented on the coins of 

 Samos. At Aleppo, Russell says, peacocks are sometimes seen; but they are brought 

 from other places. 



3. Tetrao Rufus. This is the species mentioned by Aristotle ; " de perdice Graeca vel 

 rubra Aristoteles ubique loqui intelligendus est." Schn. ad lib. ix. c. 10. This bird is 

 brought from Cephallonia to Zante, says Dr. Sibthorp, where it is kept in cages to sing, 

 or rather call. (Quique refert jungens iterata vocabula perdix. Stat. S. lib. ii. E. 4.) The 

 red-legged and grey partridge were both seen in the vicinity of Salon ica by Mr. Hawkins. 

 The former frequented entirely the rocks and hills, the latter the cultivated grounds in the 

 plains. The remark of the Greek naturalist concerning the partridge, which is seen sit- 

 ting sometimes on branches of trees, is only applicable, says Schneider, to the red-legged 

 species. (In Arist. H. A. lib. ix. c. 10.) With respect to the grey partridge, Belon thinks 

 it probable, "qu'il n'y en a jamais eu dans la Grece," but it appears from Dr. Sibthorp 

 that it is found in Thessaly. Forskal mentions its arrival at Constantinople, in Decem- 

 ber and January. Venit inter summa frigora Decemb. et Januar. : interduin hie nidos 

 ponit. According to iElian, the Greeks expressed the note or cry of the red-legged par- 

 tridge by xa>oca/3i2Je(v, and of the grey kind, seen in Bceotia and Eubcea, by titv^'i^siv. 

 H. A. iii. 35. See also Schn. in Athen. lib. iv. c. 9. But some have considered these 

 words as denoting the different cries of the same bird (the red sort) in different parts of 

 Greece. 



