482 
PLIl^r's NATURAL HISTOET. 
[Book X. 
the least in size of them all, but the most remarkable for its 
strength, is of a blackish colour. It is the only one among 
all the eagles that feeds its young ; for the others, as we shall 
mention just now, drive them away ; it is the only one too 
that has neither cry nor murmur ; it is an inhabitant of the 
mountains. The second kind is the pygargus,^^ an inhabitant 
of the cities and plains, and distinguished by the whiteness 
of its tail. The third is the morphnos,^^ which Homer also 
calls the *'percnos," while others, again, call it the plangus" 
and the " anataria it is the second in size and strength, and 
dwells in the yicinity of lakes. Phemonoe, who was styled 
the daughter of Apollo," has stated that this eagle has teeth, 
but that it has neither voice nor tongue ; she says also that it 
is the blackest of all the eagles, and has a longer tail than the 
rest ; Eceus is of the same opinion. This eagle has the instinct 
to break the shell of the tortoise by letting it fall from aloft, 
a circumstance which caused the death of the poet ^schylus. 
An oracle, it is said, had predicted his death on that day by 
the fall of a house, upon which he took the precaution of 
trusting himself only under the canopy of the heavens. 
The fourth kind of eagle is the percnopterus,"^^ also called 
the " oripelargus it has much the appearance of the vulture, 
Nauman and Savigny, when it is old is almost ail black, and without spots ; 
only the young being spotted. 
2^ From the Greek irvyr) apyrjy "white tail." Cuvier remarks, that 
this is copied exactly from Aristotle, fexcept that he says nothing about the 
whiteness of the tail, which is an interpolation. The feathers as described 
agree with those of the common eagle, the Falco fulvus, which is strong 
enough to seize a fawn. As regards its habit, he says, of dwelling on 
plains, that would agree better with the Jean le blanc of the French, the 
Falco Gallicus ; while the name of pygargus is commonly applied, at the 
present day, to the great sea-eagle, the Falco albicilla ; which frequents 
lakes and the sea-shore, and therefore corresponds more nearly with the 
haliaetus of Pliny. 
21 Cuvier says, that he is almost tempted to believe that it is the bal- 
busard, the Falco haliaetus, that is here meant, as it has a black back, and 
lives in the vicinity of lakes. But then, he remarks, it lives on fish and 
not aquatic birds ; while, on the other hand, the little eagle of Buffon, the 
Falco nsevio, often seizes ducks and other aquatic animals. He is inclined 
then, notwithstanding the apparent confusion, to take this morphnos for 
the modern small eagle. The words fioptpvog and TrspKvbg signify " black." 
22 From the Greek, meaning " black wing.'** 
23 « Mountain stork." Buffon thinks that this is the great brown vul- 
ture ; Cuvier, the great white-headed eagle. 
