A L C 
ter-feafon only, when the common fort has quitted them. 
They are laid to be met with on the coaft of Candia, and 
other parts of the Mediterranean. They are common in 
the bay of Gibraltar, where it is curious to fee their ac¬ 
tivity under water when purfuing the fifh; for, as the wa¬ 
ter in the bay isfometimes clear for a great depth from the 
furface, thefe birds may be often feenas it were flying after 
their prey, with all the agility of a bird in the air, turn¬ 
ing in every direiftion after tiie fi!h, with fucli wonderful 
addrefs and dexterity as feldom to mifs their aim. 
6. The cirrhata of Dr. Pallas, or tufted auk, fomewhat 
larger than the common puffin, and the colours much the 
fame ; the bill is an inch and three-quarters in length, the 
fame in depth at the bafe, and eroded with three furrows; 
over each eye arifes a tuft of feathers four inches in length, 
which falls elegantly on each fide of the neck, reaching 
aimoft to the back, and are white as far as they are at¬ 
tached to the head, but afterwards of a fine buff yellow ; 
the legs are of a bright red, and the claivs black. The 
female is principally diftinguifhed by having the bill crof- 
fed only with two furrows inftead of three. This fpecies 
inhabits the fliores of Kamtfchatka, the Kurile iflands, 
and thofe intervening between Kamtfchatka and America. 
In manners it greatly refembles the puffin, living all day 
at fea, but at no great diftance from the rocks; it comes 
on (hore at night, hurrows a yard deep under ground, and 
makes a nefi with feathers and fea-plants; is monoga¬ 
mous, and lodges there the whole night with its mate. " It 
lays one white egg, the end of May or beginning of June, 
which alone is thought fit to be eaten, the flefh of the 
bird itfelf being infipid and hard. It feeds on crabs, 
fhrimps, and ftiell-fiffi, which laft it forces from the rocks 
with its ftrong bill. 
7. The pfittacula, or perroquet auk, of Dr. Pallas, is 
about the fize of the little auk. The bill is much compref- 
fed on the fldes, in fltape convex both above and below, 
and of a bright red colour; from the remote corner of 
each eye is a very flender tuft of fine white feathers, hang- 
ingdownthe neck; the head and upper part of the body 
aredufky; the lower whitifh, varied with black edges; 
the legs are of a dirty yellow, and the webs dufky. This 
fpecies is found at Kamtfchatka, in the ifles towards Ja¬ 
pan, and on the weflern fhores of America, They are 
fometimes feen in flocks, but feldom far from land, ex¬ 
cept when driven by ftorms. At nights they harbour in 
the crevices of rocks. They lay an egg aimoft the fize of 
a hen’s, about the middle of June, upon the bare rock 
or fand, for they make no nefi. Like moft of the tribe, 
they are fiupid birds, as may be evinced by the method of 
catching them. One of the natives places himfelf under 
a loofe garment of fur,, of a particular make, with large 
open (leeves, among the rocks at evening; when the birds, 
returning to their lodging-places at dufk, run under the 
Ikirts, and up the arm-holes, for fhelter during the night, 
and thus becomes an eafy prey. Their fiupidity likewife 
eccafions them to fly aboard a fliip at fuch times, mifiaking 
it for a roofiing-place; whereby navigators have been 
taught to avoid the danger of falling in too nefar with land, 
ALCACAR, a palace on one fide of Toledo, in New 
Caftile. It fiands on the top of a fieep rock, and com¬ 
mands a profpeit of the city, and of the river Tagus, 
Tunning at its foot through the neighbouring fields, 
ALCAIUS, a famous ancient lyric poet, born at Mi¬ 
tylene, in the ifiand of Lefbos. He flo'uriflied in the 44th 
Olympiad, at the fame time with Sappho, who was like¬ 
wife of Mitylene. Alcaeus was a great enemy to tyrants, 
but not a very brave foldier. He was prefent at an en¬ 
gagement, wherein the Athenians gained a vidtory over 
the Lefbians; and here, as he himfelf is faid to have con- 
fefied in one of his pieces, he threw down his arms, and 
faved himfelf by flight. The poetical abilities of Alcanis 
are undifputed; and, though his writings were chiefly in 
the lyric drain, yet his mule was capable of treating the 
fublimeft fubjedfs with a fuitable dignity. 
Alc-iEvs, an Athenian tragic poet, and, as fome think, 
Vol. I. No. 16. 
ALL 2^ 
the firfi compofer of tragedies. He renounced his native 
country Mitylene, and pafled for an Athenian. He left 
ten pieces, one of which was Pafiphae, that w'hich he pro¬ 
duced when he difputed with Ariftophanes, in the fourth 
year of the 97th Olympiad. 
There is another Alcaeus mentioned in Plutarch, per¬ 
haps the fame whom Porphyrius mentions as a compofer 
of fatirical iambics and epigrams, and who wrote a poem 
concerning the plagiarifinof Euphorus the hifiorian. He 
lived in the 145th Olympiad. 
We are told likewife of one Alczeus, a Meffienian, who 
lived in the reign of Vefpafian and Titus. We know not 
which of thefe it was who fuffered for his lewdnefs a very 
fingular kind of death, which gave occafion to the follow¬ 
ing epitaph: 
’AXv.cun ratpoc ar©-, &C. 
This is Alcaeus’s tomb ; who died by a radifh, 
The daughter of the earth, and punifher of adulterers. 
This punifiiment, inflifted on adulterers, was thrufting 
one of the largeft radifhes up the anus of tire adulterer: 
or, for want of radifhes, they made life of a fifii with jag¬ 
ged fins, and a large head. 
ALCAHEST,/ An Arabic word, to exprefs an uni- 
verfal diflbivent, pretended to by Paracelfus and Helmont. 
ALCAICS, f. in ancient poetry, a denomination given 
to feveral kinds of verfe, from Alcreus, their inventor. 
The firfi kind confifts of five feet, viz. a fpondee, or iam¬ 
bic; an iambic; a long fyllable ; a daftyle ; another dac- 
tyle. The fecond kind confjfis of two daityles and two 
trochees: as, Exih\um impoJi\tura | cymbtz. Beiides thefe 
two, which are called daclylic alcaics, there is another ftyled 
Amply alcaic\ confiding of an epitrite, a choriambus, ano¬ 
ther choriambus, and a bacchius. 
Alcaic Ode,/, a kind of manly ode compofed of fe¬ 
veral firophes, each confifting of four verfes; the two firfi; 
of which are always alcaics of the firfi kind; the third 
verfe is a diameter hypercataleftic, or confifting of four 
feet and a long fyllable ; and the fourth verfe is an alcaic 
of the fecond kind. 
ALCAID, Alcayde, or Alcalde,/ [from al, Arab, 
and Heb. the head.] In the polity of the Moors, 
Spaniards, and Portuguefe, a magiftrate, or officer of juf- 
tice, anfwering nearly to the French provoft and the Britifti 
juftice of the peace. The alcaid among the Moors is veil¬ 
ed with fupremc jurifdidfion, both in civil and criminal 
3 ALCALA DE GUADEIRA, afmall town of Spain, 
in Andalufia, upon the river Guadeira. Here are abun¬ 
dance of fprings, from whence they convey water to Se¬ 
ville by an aquedinft. Lat. 37. 15. N. Ion. 6.16. W. 
Alcala de Henar.es, a beautiful and large city of 
Spain, in New Caftile, feated upon the river Henares, 
which waffles its walls. It is built in a very agreeable 
plain, and is of an oval figure. The ftreetsare handfome 
and ftraight; one of them is very long, running from one 
end of the city to the other. The houfes are well built; 
and there are feveral fquares, the largeft of which is an 
ornament to the city; it isfurrounded on all fides with pi¬ 
azzas, where tradefmen have their (hops. The univerfity 
was founded by cardinal Ximenes, archbifhop of Toledo, 
about the beginning of the fixteenth century. The land 
about Alcala is watered by the Henares, well cultivated, 
and very fruitful, while that at a difiance is dry and fte- 
rile ; it yields grain in plenty, very good mufeat wine, and 
melons of a delicious kind. Without the walls is a fpring, 
the water of which is fo pure and fo well t a fled, that it is 
inclofed and (hut up for the king of Spain’s own ufe, from 
whence it is carried to Madrid. This city is ten miles 
fouth-weft of Guadalaxara, and thirteen miles eaft of Ma¬ 
drid. Lat. 40. 30. N. Ion. 4. 20. W. 
Alcala Real, afmall city of Spain, in Andalufia, 
with a fine abbey. It is built on the top of a high moun¬ 
tain, and the road to it is incommodious, rough, and une¬ 
qual, Lat. 37.18. N. Ion. 4. 15. W. 
3 s - 
ALCAMER 
