492 
Pliny's natural histobt. 
[Book X. 
he says that it is nothing else but that same sort of billing that 
is so often seen in pigeons. Eavens are the only birds that 
seem to have any comprehension of the meaning of their 
auspices ; for when the guests of Medus^^ were assassinated, 
they all took their departure from Peloponnesus and the region 
of Attica. They are of the very worst omen when they swal- 
low their voice, as if they were being choked. 
CHAP. 16. — Tm' HOENED OWL. 
The birds of the night also have crooked talons, such as the 
owlet,^^ the homed owl, and the screech-owl, for instance ; the 
sight of all of which is defective in the day-time. The horned 
owl is especially funereal, and is greatly abhorred in all auspices 
of a public nature : it inhabits deserted places, and not only 
desolate spots, but those of a frightful and inaccessible nature : 
the monster of the night, its voice is heard, not with any tune- 
ful note, but emitting a sort of shriek. Hence it is that it is 
looked upon as a direful omen to see it in a city, or even so much 
as in the day-time. I know, however, for a fact, that it is 
not portentous of evil when it settles on the top of a private 
house. It cannot fly whither it wishes in a straight line, but 
is always carried along by a sidelong movement. A horned 
owl entered the very sanctuary of the Capitol, in the consul- 
ship of Sextus Palpelius Ulster and L. Pedanius ; in conse- 
quence of which, Eome was purified on the nones of March 
in that year. 
CHAP. 17. (13.) — BIEDS, THE EACE OF WHICH IS EXTIl^CT, OE 
OE WHICH ALL KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN LOST. 
An inauspicious bird also is that known as the * incendiary; 
59 Doe says, that this is incorrect ; the beak of the raven not being of 
a similar form to that of the pigeon. 
60 Or else, The Median guests." It is not known to what he alludes. 
Alexander ab Alexandre says, that both Alexander the Great and Cicero 
were warned of their deaths by the raven. 
61 " Noctua, bubo, ulula." It is very doubtful what birds are meant by 
these names. Cuvier has been at some pains to identify them, and con- 
cludes that the noctua, or glaux of Aristotle, is the Strix brachyotas of 
Linnseus, the "short-eared screech-owl;" the bubo, the Strix bubo of 
Linnaeus, and the ulula, the Strix aluco of Linnaeus ; our madgehowlet, 
grey or brown owl. 
6- Seventh of March. The year of their consulship is not known. 
^ Cuvier suggests, that it may be the coracias of Aristotle, our jack- 
