10. Chap. 10.-In What Places Hawks And Men Pursue The Chase In Company With Each Other.

CHAP. 10.—IN WHAT PLACES HAWKS AND MEN PURSUE THE CHASE IN COMPANY WITH EACH OTHER.

In the part of Thrace which lies above Amphipolis, men[1] and hawks go in pursuit of prey, in a sort of partnership as it were; for while the men drive the birds from out of the woods and the reed—Beds, the hawks bring them down as they fly; and after they have taken the game, the fowlers share it with them. It has been said, that when sent aloft, they will pick[2] out the birds that are wanted, and that when the opportune moment for taking them has come, they invite the fowler to seize the opportunity by their cries and their peculiar mode of flying. The sea-wolves, too, in the Palus Mæotis, do something of a very similar nature; but if they do not receive their fair share from the fishermen, they will tear their nets as they lie extended.[3] Hawks will not[4] eat the heart of a bird. The night-hawk is called cybindis;[5] it is rarely found, even in the woods, and in the day-time its sight is not good; it wages war to the death with the eagle, and they are often to be found clasped in each other's talons.

1. Cuvier remarks, that we here find the art of falconry in its rough state. It was restored to Europe, no doubt, by the Crusaders. See Beckmann's Hist, Inventions, vol. i. p. 201. Bohn's Edition.

2. "Missas in sublime sibi excipere eos." The meaning is very doubtful.

3. The whole of this passage is, most probably, a gloss or interpolation.

4. This is denied by Albertus Magnus.

5. Cuvier remarks, that Pliny has erroneously joined the account given by Aristotle of the cybindis, to that of the hybris, or ptynx. He takes the cybindis to be the "Strix Uralensis" of Pallas.