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 Pliny's Naturalis Historia : Books 8-11 Between the Ears - Satuday 26th March Read the extracts from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, about the sea, land and air, to be featured on Between The Ears on Saturday 26th March  AIRSequitur natura avium. The next subject is the nature of birds. Ex his quas novimus aquilae maximus honos, maxima et vis. Of the birds known to us the eagle is the most honourable and also the strongest. Vulturum praevalent nigri. Of vultures the black are the strongest. Nidificant in excelsissimis rupibus; They make their nests on extremely lofty crags; distinctio generum ex aviditate: alii non nisi e terra rapiunt avem, alii non nisi circa arbores volitantem, alii sedentem in sublimi, aliqui volantem in aperto. the varieties of hawks are distinguished by their appetite for food: some only snatch a bird off the ground, others only one fluttering round a tree, others one that perches high in the branches, others one flying in the open. Coccyx videtur ex accipitre fieri, tempore anni figuram mutans, The cuckoo seems to be made by changing its shape out of a hawk at a certain time of the year, procedit vere, occultatur caniculae ortu. it comes out in spring and goes into hiding at the rising of the dog-star. Bubo, funebris et maxime abominatus publicis praecipue auspiciis ... noctis monstrum, nec cantu aliquo vocalis, sed gemitu. The eagle owl is a funereal bird, and is regarded as an extremely bad omen ... a weird creature of the night, its cry is not a musical note but a scream. Sturnorum generi proprium catervatim volare et quodam pilae orbe circumagi, omnibus in medium agmen tendentibus. It is a peculiarity of the starling kind that they fly in flocks and wheel round in a sort of circular ball, all making towards the centre of the flock. Temporum magna differentia avibus: perennes, ut columbae, semenstres, ut hirundines, trimenstres, ut turdi, turtures, et quae, cum fetum eduxere, abeunt, ut galguli, upupae. There is a great difference in the seasons of birds: some stay all the year round, eg pigeons, some for six months, eg swallows, some for three months, eg thrushes and turtle doves and those that migrate when they have reared their brood, such as woodpeckers and hoopoes. Alia admiratio circa oscines. fere mutant colorem vocemque tempore anni. There is another remarkable fact about song-birds: they usually change their colour and note with the season. merula ex nigra rufescit, canit aestate, hieme balbutit, circa solstitium muta. The blackbird changes from black to red; and it sings in the summer, and chirps in the winter, but in midsummer is silent. Lusciniis diebus ac noctibus continuis XV garrulus sine intermissu cantus densante se frondium germine, Nightingales pour out a ceaseless gush of song for 15 days and nights on end when the buds of the leaves are swelling, plenus, gravis, acutus, creber, extentus, ubi visum est, vibrans, summus, medius, imus. loud, low, bass, treble, with trills, with long notes, modulated when this seems good, soprano, mezzo, baritone. Previous Page  |
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