Pigmies.
"Among vulgar errors is set down this, that there is a nation of pigmies, not above two or three feet high, and that they solemnly set themselves in battle to fight against the cranes."—Strabo.
"Strabo thought this a fiction; and our age, which has fully discovered all the wonders of the world, as fully declares it to be one."—Brand.
This refers to accounts of the Pechinians of Ethiopia, who are represented of small stature, and as being accustomed every year to drive away the cranes which flocked to their country in the winter. They are portrayed on ancient gems as mounted on cocks or partridges, to fight the cranes; or carrying grasshoppers, and leaning on staves to support the burden.