IMAGINATIVE NATURAL HISTORY 
9 
times. The word seems to me a mere modification of a Greek 
word for serpent, meaning literally “ the seeing or keen-sighted 
one.” The fabled chimaera comes rather near the traditional 
form, being “in the fore part a lion, in the hind part a serpent 
(drakon), and in the middle a goat (chimeera).'’ 
Of the serpent, Mr. Cruden tells us : “ It is said that, when 
he is old, he has the secret of growing young again, and of 
stripping off his old skin or slough, by squeezing himself 
between two rocks. He assaults a man if he has his clothes on, 
but flees if he finds him naked. . . . When he goes to 
drink at a fountain, he first vomits up all his poison, for fear of 
poisoning himself as he is drinking.” Then come the cautious 
remark, “ Though this observation be not assented to by every- 
body, it has nevertheless many defenders.” As to the “ deaf 
adder,” we are told, “ It is said that it applies one of its ears 
hard to the ground, and stops the other with the end of its tail.” 
Much more might be quoted, but this is perhaps more than 
enough of Mr. Cruden. I turn to a more modern writer, of a 
very different stamp, Mons. Jules Michelet, and his book on 
“ The Bird.” I ought to confess that I know it only through 
a not immaculate English translation. This writer explains 
the soaring of birds in a very simple and positive fashion. 
“Would it grow light, it inflates its dimension, while diminish- 
ing its relative weight ; by this means it spontaneously ascends 
in a medium heavier than itself.” It was, I think, of this 
theory that the remark was made that the bird in so doing 
would assume “an aldermanic appearance” which has not 
hitherto been detected. “ To descend or drop, it contracts 
itself, grows thin and small.” Man, in his “ fatal ignorance, 
assumed that the bird was a ship, not a balloon.” In another 
place. M. Michelet describes a “ brave and beautiful bird,” 
which wages war, in a manner surely unique, on the serpents 
in the perilous savannahs of Guiana. This bird retains “ some 
relics of the ancient weapons with which the primeval birds 
were very probably provided in their struggle against the 
dragon. These are, a horn on the head, and a spur on each 
of the wings. With the first it stirs up, excites, and rouses out 
of the mud its enemy. The others serve as a guard and defence ; 
the reptile, which hugs and folds it in its embrace, at the same 
time plunges into its own body these keen darts, and by its own 
constriction, its own actual exertions, is poinarded.” The 
name of this heroic bird is given as “ the Kamichi {Palamedea 
cor nut a).” 
Now, of course M. Michelet’s book is intentionally written 
in an imaginative, poetical style ; but the question arises, 
whether he has not drawn on his imagination for his facts, and 
not merely for his manner of presenting them. For example, 
take this, from a description of a thrush’s nest — “ Look within : 
it is an admirable cupola, neat, polished, shining, and not in- 
ferior to glass ; you may see yourself in it as in a mirror ! ” 
F. M. Millard. 
