Chapter 5 of 12 · 959 words · ~5 min read

BOOK X

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THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

1. The ostrich 478

2. The phœnix 479

3. The different kinds of eagles 481

4. The natural characteristics of the eagle 484

5. When the eagle was first used as the standard of the Roman legions 485

6. An eagle which precipitated itself on the funeral pile of a girl 486

7. The vulture _ib._

8. The birds called sangualis and immusulus 487

9. Hawks. The buteo _ib._

10. In what places hawks and men pursue the chase in company with each other 488

11. The only bird that is killed by those of its own kind.—A bird that lays only one egg 489

12. The kite 490

13. The classification of birds _ib._

14. Crows. Birds of ill omen. At what seasons they are not inauspicious _ib._

15. The raven 491

16. The horned owl 492

17. Birds, the race of which is extinct, or of which all knowledge has been lost _ib._

18. Birds which are born with the tail first 493

19. The owlet 494

20. The wood-pecker of Mars _ib._

21. Birds which have hooked talons 495

22. The peacock _ib._

23. Who was the first to kill the peacock for food. Who first taught the art of cramming them 496

24. The dunghill cock _ib._

25. How cocks are castrated. A cock that once spoke 498

26. The goose _ib._

27. Who first taught us to use the liver of the goose for food 499

28. The Commagenian medicament 500

29. The chenalopex, the cheneros, the tetrao, and the otis _ib._

30. Cranes 501

31. Storks 502

32. Swans _ib._

33. Foreign birds which visit us; the quail, the glottis, the cychramus, and the otus 503

34. Swallows 505

35. Birds which take their departure from us, and whither they go; the thrush, the blackbird, and the starling—birds which lose their feathers during their retirement—the turtle-dove and the ring-dove—the flight of starlings and swallows _ib._

36. Birds which remain with us throughout the year; birds which remain with us only six or three months; whitwalls and hoopoes 506

37. The Memnonides _ib._

38. The Meleagrides 507

39. The Seleucides _ib._

40. The ibis _ib._

41. Places in which certain birds are never found _ib._

42. The various kinds of birds which afford omens by their note. Birds which change their colour and their voice 509

43. The nightingale _ib._

44. The melancoryphus, the erithacus, and the phœnicurus 511

45. The œnanthe, the chlorion, the blackbird, and the ibis _ib._

46. The times of incubation of birds 512

47. The halcyones: the halcyon days that are favourable to navigation _ib._

48. Other kinds of aquatic birds 513

49. The instinctive cleverness displayed by birds in the construction of their nests. The wonderful works of the swallow. The bank-swallow _ib._

50. The acanthyllis and other birds 515

51. The merops—partridges 516

52. Pigeons 517

53. Wonderful things done by them; prices at which they have been sold 519

54. Different modes of flight and progression in birds 520

55. The birds called apodes or cypseli 521

56. Respecting the food of birds—the caprimulgus, the platea _ib._

57. The instincts of birds—the carduelis, the taurus, the anthus 522

58. Birds which speak—the parrot _ib._

59. The pie which feeds on acorns 523

60. A sedition that arose among the Roman people, in consequence of a raven speaking 524

61. The birds of Diomedes 526

62. Animals that can learn nothing _ib._

63. The mode of drinking with birds. The porphyrio 527

64. The hæmatopous _ib._

65. The food of birds _ib._

66. The pelican _ib._

67. Foreign birds: the phalerides, the pheasant, and the numidicæ 528

68. The phœnicopterus, the attagen, the phalacrocorax, the pyrrhocorax, and the lagopus _ib._

69. The new birds. The vipio 529

70. Fabulous birds 530

71. Who first invented the art of cramming poultry: why the first Censors forbade this practice 531

72. Who first invented aviaries. The dish of Æsopus _ib._

73. The generation of birds: other oviparous animals 532

74. The various kinds of eggs, and their nature _ib._

75. Defects in brood-hens, and their remedies 535

76. An augury derived from eggs by an empress _ib._

77. The best kinds of fowls 536

78. The diseases of fowls, and their remedies 537

79. When birds lay, and how many eggs. The various kinds of herons _ib._

80. What eggs are called hypenemia, and what cynosura. How eggs are best kept 539

81. The only winged animal that is viviparous, and nurtures its young with its milk 540

82. Terrestrial animals that are oviparous. Various kinds of serpents _ib._

83. Generation of all kinds of terrestrial animals _ib._

84. The position of animals in the uterus 544

85. Animals whose origin is still unknown _ib._

86. Salamanders 545

87. Animals which are born of beings that have not been born themselves—animals which are born themselves, but are not reproductive—animals which are of neither sex 546

88. The senses of animals—that all have the senses of touch and taste—those which are more remarkable for their sight, smell, or hearing—moles—whether oysters have the sense of hearing _ib._

89. Which fishes have the best hearing 547

90. Which fishes have the finest sense of smell. _ib._

91. Diversities in the feeding of animals 548

92. Animals which live on poisons _ib._

93. Animals which live on earth—animals which will not die of hunger or thirst 549

94. Diversities in the drinking of animals 550

95. Antipathies of animals. Proofs that they are sensible of friendship and other affections _ib._

96. Instances of affection shown by serpents 552

97. The sleep of animals _ib._

98. What animals are subject to dreams 553

NATURAL HISTORY OF PLINY.

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