488 
Pliny's natubal histobt. 
[Book X. 
kind^^ **epileiis;" the only one, indeed, that is seen at all seasons 
of the year, the others taking their departure in the winter. 
The various kinds are distinguished by the avidity with 
which they seize their prey ; for while some will only pounce 
on a bird while on the ground, others will only seize it while 
hovering round the trees, others, again, while it is perched aloft, 
and others while it is flying in mid air. Hence it is that 
pigeons, on seeing them, are aware of the nature of the danger 
to which they are exposed, and either settle on the ground or 
else fly upwards, instinctively protecting themselves by taking 
due precautions against their natural propensities. The hawks 
of the whole of Massaesylia, breed in Cerne,^^ an island of 
Africa, lying in the ocean ; and none of the kinds that are 
accustomed to those parts will breed anywhere else. 
CHAP. 10. m WHAT PLACES HAWKS AND MEN PUESTJE THE 
CHASE IN COMPANY WITH EACH OTHEE. 
In the part of Thrace which lies above Amphipolis, men*'' 
and hawks go in pursuit of prey, in a sort of partnership as it 
were ; for while the men drive the birds from out of the woods 
and the reed-beds, the hawks bring them down as they fly ; 
and after they have taken the game, the fowlers share it with 
them. It has been said, that when sent aloft, they will 
pick out the birds that are wanted, and that when the oppor- 
tune moment for taking them has come, they invite the fowler 
to seize the opportunity by their cries and their peculiar mode 
of flying. The sea- wolves, too, in the Palus Maeotis, do some- 
thing of a very similar nature ; but if they do not receive their 
fair share from the fishermen, they will tear their nets as they 
lie extended.*^ Hawks will not^^ eat the heart of a bird. The 
night-hawk is called cybindis it is rarely found, even in the 
^5 Cuvier thinks that he means to identify this kind with the triorchis, 
of which Aristotle says that it is to he seen at all seasons. 
46 See B. vi. c. 36. 
^"^ Cuvier remarks, that we here find the art of falconry in its rough 
state. It was restored to Europe, no douht, by the Crusaders. See Beck- 
mann's Hist. Inventions, vol. i. p, 201. £ohti's Edition. 
^ " Missas in sublime sibi excipere eos." The meaning is very doubtful. 
*9 The whole of this passage is, most probably, a gloss or interpolation. 
50 This is denied by Albertus Magnus. 
51 Cuvier remarks, that Pliny has erroneously joined the account given 
by Aristotle of the cybindis, to that of the hybris, or ptynx. He takes the 
cybindis to be the " Strix Uralensis" of Pallas. 
