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The Lammergeyer Comparative Descriptions in Aristotle and Pliny

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Extract

Aristotle's account of the περκνóπτεος the Black Eagle (H.A. ix. 32. b), is, in the main, an accurate enough description of the Lammergeyer (Gypaetus barbatus): λευκἠ κεϕαλἠ, μεγέθει ἠ μἑγιοτος, πτερἀ ἠ βραχύτατα, καì ὀρροπύγιον πρóμκες, γυπí ὃμοιος ὀρειπέλαργος καλε¯ται καí ὑπάετος. οἰkgr;ε’ ἂλση, τἀ μἐν κακἁ ταὐτἀ ἒχων τοῐς ἂλλοις, τν ’ ἀγαθν οὐἑν. ἁλíσκεται γἀρ καì ιὠκεται ὑττò κορἁκων καì τν ἂλλων, βαρύς γα καí κακóβιος καì τἀ τεθνετα ϕἑρων πειν’ ἑεì καì βοᾀ και μινυρíℑει. The birds which I observed in Abyssinia and Kenya appeared very black, and the white head (λευκἠ κεϕαλἡ) was very noticeable when the bird turned in the sun.

Again it is in fact the largest of the Old World raptores (μεγἑθει μἑγιατος), for specimens have been recorded which measured 10 feet between wing-tips. But it is untrue to say that its wings are βραχύτατα, for it possesses the graceful spread of a gigantic falcon. Sundevall, as Professor D'A. W. Thompson points out in A Glossary of Greek Birds (pp. 146–7, new edition, 1936), suggested that βραχύτατα was an error for μακρóτατα, but it is more likely, in view of Pliny's alts minimis, quoted below, that Aristotle was confusing the lammergeyer with another bird, perhaps Bonelli's (Nisaetus fasciatus Vieill.) or the Dwarf Eagle (Aquila naevia). In flight the lammergeyer's most prominent feature is its long, streamlined rump, which is faithfully described by ὀρροπὑγιον πρóμηκες (this characteristic is well portrayed in Leonard Gill's A First Guide to the Birds of South Africa).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1947

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References

Page 23 note 1 Here I gratefully acknowledge a suggestion made to me by Professor E. R. Dodds, who points out that it would be more natural to place a stop after βαρύς λἁρ, which ‘is the reason why it is overtaken and mobbed‘, and to take καí καóβιος with καì τἀ τεθνετα ϕἑρων, than to follow the majority of editors and punctuate after ἂλλων.

Page 23 note 2 Or we must assume that the corruption was a very old one, and existed in Pliny's MSS.; but this seems less likely in view of οἰκεῑ ’ ἂλση, which shows confusion with another species whose wings were βραχύτατα.

Page 23 note 3 Pl. xiv, fig. 14a.

Page 24 note 1 See below.

Page 26 note 1 On the other hand it has been recorded from Sardinia, and colonies may have existed on most of the large islands which lie between the bird's former home in the Alps, and its present home in the Atlas mountains and the Pyrenees.

Page 27 note 1 cf. Aristotle's—ἡ ἑ καλουμἑνχ ϕἡνχ ἐστíν εὒτεκνος καì εὐβíοτος καí ειπνοϕóρος καì ἢπιος, καì τἁ τἑκνα ἐκτρἐϕει τἀ αύτς καí τὰ τοũ ἀετοũ. H.A. IX. 34, 619B.