CHAP. 67.—FOREIGN BIRDS: THE PHALERIDES, THE PHEASANT, AND THE NUMIDICÆ.
In the Hercynian Forest, in Germany, we hear of a singular[3063] kind of bird, the feathers of which shine at night like fire; the other birds there have nothing remarkable beyond the celebrity which generally attaches to objects situate at a distance.
(48.) The phalerides,[3064] the most esteemed of all the aquatic birds, are found at Seleucia, the city of the Parthians of that name, and in Asia as well; and again, in Colchis, there is the pheasant,[3065] a bird with two tufts of feathers like ears, which it drops and raises every now and then. The numidicæ[3066] come from Numidia, a part of Africa: all these varieties are now to be found in Italy.