486 
PLlirr'S NATTTEAL HISTOEY. 
[Book X. 
the whole of the smaller quadrupeds, but will attack deer 
even. EoUing in the dust, the eagle covers its body all over 
with it, and then perching on the antlers of the animal, shakes 
the dust into its eyes, while at the same time it beats it on the 
head with its wings, until the creature at last precipitates itself 
down the rocks. I^Tor, indeed, is this one enemy sufficient for 
it ; it has still more terrible combats with the dragon,^^ and 
the issue is much more doubtful, although the battle is fought 
in the air. The dragon seeks the eggs of the eagle with a 
mischievous avidity ; while the eagle, in return, carries it off 
whenever it happens to see it ; upon these occasions, the dragon 
coils itself about the wings of the bird in multiplied folds, 
until at last they fall to the earth together. 
CHAP. 6. (5.) — AN EAGLE WHICH PEECIPITATED ITSELF ON THE 
FUNEEAL PILE OF A GIEL. 
There is a very famous story about an eagle at the city of 
Sestos. Having been reared by a little girl, it used to testify 
its gratitude for her kindness, first by bringing her birds, and 
in due time various kinds of prey : at last she died, upon which 
the bird threw itself on the lighted pile, and was consumed 
with her body. In memory of this event, the inhabitants 
raised upon the spot what they called an heroic monument, 
in honour of Jupiter and the damsel, the eagle being a bird 
consecrated to that divinity. 
CHAP. 7. (6.) THE VULTT7EE. 
Of the vultures, the black ones^^ are the strongest. No 
person has yet found a vulture's nest : hence it is that there 
are some who have thought, though erroneously, that these 
birds come from the opposite hemisphere.^^ The fact is, that 
they build their nest upon the very highest rocks ; their young 
ones, indeed, are often to be seen, being generally two in number. 
Umbricius, the most skilful among the aruspices of our time, 
says that the vulture lays thirteen eggs,^'' and that with one of 
^ See Virgil, ^n. B. xi. 1. 755, et seq. By the dragon," he means 
some large serpent. ^4 <t Heroum." 
^ The great European vulture. 
^ Their nests are seldom seen, in consequence of being concealed in the 
crags of the highest mountains, the Pyrenees, for instance. 
zi "Three" seems a better reading. Aristotle says two.** 
