For having first set down generically the kinds of birds, which are neuter, then after speaking of the species in the masculine he comes back again to the neuter—settling down with a noise giving the proper agreement to the general word of the species.
The poet often changes the number as well as the gender (I. xv. 305):—
The crowd approach the ships of the Achaeans.
First comes a singular then a plural verb, plainly looking to the sense, for although the word "crowd" is called singular, yet it embraces many individuals.
Like it in the opposite way is when the plural precedes the singular follows (I. xvi. 264):—
They having a martial heart each one rushes on.
The word [Greek omitted] is singular, being applied to a multitude has the same effect as all ([Greek omitted]). The same kind of figure is the following (O. iii. 4):—
And they reached Pylas, the stablished castle of Neleus, and
the people were doing sacrifice on the seashore.
The people of Pylas are meant.
He has changes of cases, the nominative and the vocative being interchanged in the following verse (I. ii. 107):—