CHAP. 65.—THE FOOD OF BIRDS.
All the heavy birds are frugivorous; while those with a higher flight feed upon flesh only. Among the aquatic birds, the divers[3062] are in the habit of devouring what the other birds have disgorged.
CHAP. 66.—THE PELICAN.
The pelican is similar in appearance to the swan, and it would be thought that there was no difference between them whatever, were it not for the fact that under the throat there is a sort of second crop, as it were. It is in this that the ever-insatiate animal stows everything away, so much so, that the capacity of this pouch is quite astonishing. After having finished its search for prey, it discharges bit by bit what it has thus stowed away, and reconveys it by a sort of ruminating process into its real stomach. The part of Gallia that lies nearest to the Northern Ocean produces this bird.
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.
CHAP. 68.—THE PHŒNICOPTERUS, THE ATTAGEN, THE PHALACROCORAX, THE PYRRHOCORAX, AND THE LAGOPUS.
Apicius, that very deepest whirlpool of all our epicures, has informed us that the tongue of the phœnicopterus[3067] is of the most exquisite flavour. The attagen,[3068] also, of Ionia is a famous bird; but although it has a voice at other times, it is mute in captivity. It was formerly[3069] reckoned among the rare birds, but at the present day it is found in Gallia, Spain, and in the Alps even; which is also the case with the phalacrocorax,[3070] a bird peculiar to the Balearic Isles, as the pyrrhocorax,[3071] a black bird with a yellow bill, is to the Alps, and the lagopus,[3072] which is esteemed for its excellent flavour. This last bird derives its name from its feet, which are covered, as it were, with the fur of a hare, the rest of the body being white, and the size of a pigeon. It is not an easy matter to taste it out of its native country, as it never becomes domesticated, and when dead it quickly spoils.
There is another[3073] bird also, which has the same name, and only differs from the quail in size; it is of a saffron colour, and is most delicate eating. Egnatius Calvinus, who was prefect there, pretends that he has seen[3074] in the Alps the ibis also, a bird that is peculiar to Egypt.