39. Chap. 39. (27.)-The Seleucides.

CHAP. 39. (27.)—THE SELEUCIDES.

Those birds are called seleucides, which are sent by Jupiter at the prayers offered up to him by the inhabitants of Mount Casius,[1] when the locusts are ravaging their crops of corn. Whence they[2] come, or whither they go, has never yet been ascertained, as, in fact, they are never to be seen but when the people stand in need of their aid.

1. See B. v. c. 22.

2. Cuvier suggests, that these birds may have been of the starling genus, perhaps the Turdus roseus of Linnæus.