CHAP. 37. (26.)—THE MEMNONIDES.
There are some authors who say that every year certain
birds[1] fly from Æthiopia to Ilium, and have a combat at the
tomb of Memnon there; from which circumstance they have
received from them the name of Memnonides, or birds of
Memnon. Cremutius states it also as a fact, ascertained by
himself, that they do the same every fifth year in Æthiopia,
around the palace of Memnon.
1. Cuvier suggests, that these birds may have been the Tringa pugnax
of Linnæus and Buffon, the males of which engage in most bloody combats
with each other on the banks of livers, in spring.