THE PORPHYRION.
40. There is also a bird called the porphyrion. And it is
well known that this bird is mentioned by Aristophanes.
And Polemo, in the fifth book of his treatise addressed to
Antigonus and Adæus, says that the bird called the porphyrion,
when it is kept in a house, watches those women who
have husbands very closely; and has such instantaneous perception
of any one who commits adultery, that, when it
perceives it, it gives notice of it to the master of the house,
cutting its own existence short by hanging itself. And, says
he, it never partakes of food before it has walked all round
the place seeking for some spot which may suit it; and then
it dusts itself there, and washes itself, and after that it feeds.
And Aristotle says that it has cloven feet, and that it is of a
dark blue colour, with long legs, with a beak of a scarlet
colour beginning at its very head; of about the size of a cock
of the common poultry breed; and it has a small gullet, on
which account it seizes its food with its foot, and divides it
into diminutive morsels. And it drinks greedily; and it
has five toes on each foot, of which the middle one is the
largest. But Alexander the Myndian, in the second book of
his treatise on the History of Birds, says that the bird comes
originally from Libya, and that it is sacred to the gods of
Libya.
There is also another bird called the porphyris. Callimachus, in his treatise on Birds, says that the porphyris is different from the porphyrion, and enumerates the two birds separately. And he says that the porphyrion takes its food while hiding itself in darkness, so that no one may see it; for it hates those who come near its food. And Aristophanes also mentions the porphyris in his drama entitled The Birds. And Ibycus speaks of some birds which he calls lathiporphyrides, and says; "There are some variegated ducks with purple necks which frequent the highest branches of the trees; and the birds called lathiporphyrides with variegated necks, and king-fishers with extended wings." And in another place he says—
You're always bearing me aloft, my mind,
Like some bold porphyris, with out-stretch'd wings.
41. The next bird is the partridge. A great many authors mention this bird, as also does Aristophanes. And some of