508 
PLINY S NATITEAL HISTOBT. 
[Book X. 
well ; it is singular that when introduced into these localities 
they will be no longer productive, but die immediately they 
are thus transplanted. "What can it be that is thus fatal to 
the increase of one particular species, or whence this envy 
manifested against them by I^Tature ? What, too, are the limits 
that have been marked out for the birds on the face of the 
earth ? 
Ehodes^^ possesses no eagles. In Italy beyond the Padus, 
there is, near the Alps, a lake known by the name of Larius, 
beautifully situate amid a country covered with shrubs ; and 
yet this lake is never visited by storks, nor, indeed, are they 
ever known to come within eight miles of it ; while, on the 
other hand, in the neighbouring territory of the Insubres^^ 
there are immense flocks of magpies and jackdaws, the only^^ 
bird that is guilty of stealing gold and silver, a very singular 
propensity. 
It is said that in the territory of Tarentum, the woodpecker 
of Mars is never found. It is only lately too, and that but 
very rarely, that various kinds of pies have begun to be seen 
in the districts that lie between the Apennines and the City ; 
birds which are known by the name of varise,"^^ and are re- 
markable for the length of the tail. It is a peculiarity of 
this bird, that it becomes bald every year at the time of sowing 
rape. The partridge does not fly beyond the frontiers of 
BcBotia, into Attica ; nor does any bird, in the island in the 
Euxine in which Achilles was buried, enter the temple there 
consecrated to him. In the territory of Fidense, in the vicinity 
of the City, the storks have no young nor do they build nests: but 
vast numbers of ringdoves arrive from beyond sea every year 
in the district of Yola terras. At Eome, neither flies nor dogs 
ever enter the temple of Hercules in the Cattle Market. There 
are numerous other instances of a similar nature in reference 
to all kinds of animals, which from time to time I feel my- 
self prompted by prudent considerations to omit, lest I should 
^9 Suetonius says, that when Tiberius was staying at Rhodes, an eagle 
perched on the roof of his house ; such a bird having never been seen 
before on the island. 20 ggg {{{^ c. 21. 
21 It is still noted for its thieving propensities ; witness the English story 
of the Maid and the Magpie, and the Italian opera of "La Gazza Ladra." 
Cicero says, " They would no more trust gold with you, than with a jack- 
daw." See also Ovid's Met. B. vii. It is the Corvus pica of Linnseus. 
22 Mottled pies.'' 23 gee B. iv. c. 12. 
