Part 19

There always has been a tradition of birds being existent, of far greater size than those usually visible.

The Maoris aver that at times they still hear the gigantic Moa in the scrub--and, even, if extinct, we know, by the state of the bones found, that its extinction must have been of comparatively recent date. But no one credits the Moa with the power of flight, whilst the Griffin, which must not be confounded with the gold-loving Arimaspian Gryphon, was a noble bird. Mandeville knew him:--“In this land (Bactria) are many gryffons, more than in other places, and some say they have the body before as an Egle, and behinde as a Lyon, and it is trouth, for they be made so; but the Griffen hath a body greater than viii Lyons, and stall worthier (stouter, braver) than a hundred Egles. For certainly he wyl beare to his nest flying, a horse and a man upon his back, or two Oxen yoked togither as they go at plowgh, for he hath longe nayles on hys fete, as great as it were hornes of Oxen, and of those they make Cups there to drynke of, and of his rybes they make bowes to shoote with.”

Olaus Magnus says they live in the far Northern mountains, that they prey upon horses and men, and that of their nails drinking-cups were made, as large as ostrich eggs. These enormous birds correspond in many points to the Eastern Ruc or Rukh, or the Rok of the “Arabian Nights,” of whose mighty powers of flight Sindbad took advantage.

Ser Marco Polo, speaking of Madagascar, says:--“’Tis said that in those other Islands to the south, which the ships are unable to visit because this strong current prevents their return, is found the bird Gryphon, which appears there at certain seasons. The description given of it is, however, entirely different from what our stories and pictures make it. For persons who had been there and had seen it, told Messer Marco Polo that it was for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size; so big in fact, that its wings covered an extent of 30 paces, and its quills were 12 paces long, and thick in proportion. And it is so strong that it will seize an Elephant in its talons, and carry him high into the air, and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces: having so killed him, the bird gryphon swoops down on him, and eats him at leisure. The people of those isles call the bird Ruc, and it has no other name. So I wot not if this be the real gryphon, or if there be another manner of bird as great. But this I can tell you for certain, that they are not half lion and half bird, as our stories do relate; but, enormous as they be, they are fashioned just like an eagle.

“The Great Kaan sent to those parts to enquire about these curious matters, and the story was told by those who went thither. He also sent to procure the release of an envoy of his who had been despatched thither, and had been detained; so both those envoys had many wonderful things to tell the Great Kaan about those strange islands, and about the birds I have mentioned. They brought (as I heard) to the Great Kaan, a feather of the said Ruc, which was stated to measure 90 Spans, whilst the quill part was two palms in circumference, a marvellous object! The Great Kaan was delighted with it, and gave great presents to those who brought it.”

This quill seems rather large; other travellers, however, perhaps not so truthful as Ser Marco, speak of these enormous quills. The Moa of New Zealand (Dinornis giganteus) is supposed to have been the largest bird in Creation--and next to that is the Æpyornis maximus--whose bones and egg have been found in Madagascar. An egg is in the British Museum, and it has a liquid capacity of 2.35 gallons, but, alas, for the quill story--this bird was wingless.

The Condor has been put forward as the real and veritable Ruc, but no living specimens will compare with this bird as it has been described--especially if we take the picture of it in Lane’s “Arabian Nights,” where it is represented as taking up three elephants, one in its beak, and one in each of its claws.

The Japanese have a legend of a great bird which carried off men--and there is a very graphic picture now on view at the White Wing of the British Museum, where one of these birds, having seized a man, frightens, very naturally, the whole community.

THE PHŒNIX.

Pliny says of the Phœnix:--“Æthiopia and India, more especially produce birds of diversified plumage, and such as quite surpass all description. In the front rank of these is the Phœnix, that famous bird of Arabia; though I am not sure that its existence is not a fable.

“It is said that there is only one in existence in the whole world, and that that one has not been seen very often. We are told that this bird is of the size of an eagle, and has a brilliant golden plumage around the neck, whilst the rest of the body is a purple colour; except the tail, which is azure, with long feathers intermingled, of a roseate hue; the throat is adorned with a crest, and the head with a tuft of feathers. The first Roman who described this bird, and who has done so with great exactness, was the Senator Manilius, so famous for his learning; which he owed, too, to the instructions of no teacher. He tells us that no person has ever seen this bird eat, that in Arabia it is looked upon as sacred to the Sun; that it lives five hundred and forty years. That when it is old it builds a nest of Cassia and sprigs of incense, which it fills with perfumes, and then lays its body down upon them to die: that from its bones and marrow there springs at first a sort of small worm, which, in time, changes into a little bird; that the first thing it does is to perform the obsequies of its predecessor, and to carry the nest entire to the City of the Sun near Panchaia, and there deposit it upon the altar of that divinity.

“The same Manilius states also, that the revolution of the great year is completed with the life of this bird, and that then a new cycle comes round again with the same characteristics as the former one, in the seasons and the appearance of the stars; and he says that this begins about midday of the day in which the Sun enters the sign of Aries. He also tells us that when he wrote to the above effect, in the consulship of P. Licinius, and Cneius Cornelius, (B.C. 96) it was the two hundred and fifteenth year of the said revolution. Cornelius Valerianus says that the Phœnix took its flight from Arabia into Egypt in the Consulship of Q. Plautius and Sextus Papinius, (A.D. 36). This bird was brought to Rome in the Censorship of the Emperor Claudius, being the year from the building of the City, 800, (A.D. 47) and it was exposed to public view in the Comitium. This fact is attested by the public Annals, but there is no one that doubts that it was a fictitious Phœnix.”

Cuvier seems to think that the bird described above was a Golden Pheasant, brought from the interior of Asia--at a time when these birds were unknown to civilised Europe.

Du Bartas, in his metrical account of the Creation, mentions this winged prodigy:--

“The Heav’nly Phœnix first began to frame The earthly Phœnix, and adorn’d the same With such a Plume, that Phœbus, circuiting From Fez to Cairo, sees no fairer thing: Such form, such feathers, and such Fate he gave her That fruitfull Nature breedeth nothing braver: Two sparkling eyes; upon her crown, a crest Of starrie Sprigs (more splendent than the rest) A goulden doun about her dainty neck, Her brest deep purple, and a scarlet back, Her wings and train of feathers (mixed fine) Of orient azure and incarnadine. He did appoint her Fate to be her Pheer, And Death’s cold kisses to restore her heer Her life again, which never shall expire Untill (as she) the World consume in fire. For, having passed under divers Climes, A thousand Winters, and a thousand Primes; Worn out with yeers, wishing her endless end, To shining flames she doth her life commend, Dies to revive, and goes into her Grave To rise againe more beautifull and brave. With Incense, Cassia, Spiknard, Myrrh, and Balm, By break of Day shee builds (in narrow room) Her Urn, her Nest, her Cradle, and her Toomb; Where, while she sits all gladly-sad expecting Some flame (against her fragrant heap reflecting) To burn her sacred bones to seedfull cinders, (Wherein, her age, but not her life, she renders.)

* * * * *

And Sol himself, glancing his goulden eyes On th’ odoriferous Couch wherein she lies, Kindles the spice, and by degrees consumes Th’ immortall Phœnix, both her flesh and plumes. But instantly, out of her ashes springs A Worm, an Egg then, then a Bird with wings, Just like the first, (rather the same indeed) Which (re-ingendred of its selfly seed) By nobly dying, a new Date begins, And where she loseth, there her life she wins: Endless by’r End, eternall by her Toomb; While, by a prosperous Death, she doth becom (Among the cinders of her sacred Fire) Her own selfs Heir, Nurse, Nurseling, Dam and Sire.”

THE SWALLOW.

“And is the swallow gone? Who beheld it? Which way sailed it? Farewell bade it none?”

(W. Smith, Country book.)

Olaus Magnus answered this question, according to his lights, and when, discoursing on the Migration of Swallows he says:--“Though many Writers of Natural Histories have written that Swallows change their stations; that is, when cold Winter begins to come, they fly to hotter Climats; yet oft-times, in the Northern Countries, Swallows are drawn forth, by chance by Fishermen, like a lump cleaving together, where they went amongst the Reeds, after the beginning of Autumn, and there fasten themselves bill to bill, wing to wing, feet to feet. For it is observed, that they, about that time ending their most sweet note, (?) do so descend, and they fly out peaceably after the beginning of the Spring, and come to their old Nests, or else they build new ones by their natural care. Now that lump being drawn forth by ignorant young men (for the old Fishermen that are acquainted with it, put it in again) is carryed and laid on the Sea Shore, and by the heat of the Sun, the Lump is dissolved, and the Swallows begin to fly, but they last but a short time because they were not set at liberty by being taken so soon, but they were made captive by it. It hapneth also in the Spring, when they return freely, and come to their old Nests, or make new ones, if a very cold Winter come upon them, and much snow fall, they will all dye; that all that Summer you shall see none of them upon the Houses, or Banks, or Rivers; but a very few that came later out of the Waters, or from other Parts, which by Nature come flying thither, to repair their Issue. Winter being fully ended in May; For Husband-Men, from their Nests, built higher or lower, take their Prognostications, whether they shall sowe in Valleys, or Mountains or Hills, according as the Rain shall increase or diminish. Also the Inhabitants hold it an ill sign, if the Swallows refuse to build upon their houses; for they fear those House-tops are ready to fall.”

This is proper, and good, and what we might expect from Olaus Magnus; but it is somewhat singular to see, printed in Notes and Queries for October 22, 1864, the following:--

“The Duke de R---- related to me, a few days ago, that in Sweden, the swallows, as soon as the winter begins to approach, plunge themselves into the lakes, where they remain asleep and hidden under the ice till the return of the summer; when, revived by the new warmth, they come out from the water, and fly away as formerly. While the lakes are frozen, if somebody will break the ice in those parts where it appears darker than in the rest, he will find masses of swallows--cold, asleep, and half dead; which, by taking out of their retreat, and warming, he will see gradually to vivify again and fly.

“In other countries they retire very often to the Caverns, under the rocks. As many of these exist between the City of Caen, and the Sea, on the banks of the river Orne, there are found sometimes, during the winter, piles of swallows suspended in these vaults, like bundles of grapes. I witnessed the same thing, myself, in Italy; where, as well as in France, it is considered (as I have heard) very lucky by the inhabitants when swallows build nests on their habitations.... Rhodocanakis.”

Of course, these stories of curious hybernation were pooh-poohed, although it could not be denied that the subaqueous hybernation of swallows is given in Goldsmith’s “Animated Nature,” and many other Natural Histories, which succeeded his.

The wintering of swallows in caverns, has another eye-witness in Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg), who in his “Poems, Lyrics, and Pastorals,” published 1794, says:--“About the year 1768, the author, with two or three more, found a great number of swallows in a torpid state, clinging in clusters to each other by their bills, in a cave of the sea-cliffs near Dunraven Castle, in the County of Glamorgan. They revived after they had been some hours in a warm room, but died a day or two after, though all possible care had been taken of them.”

THE MARTLET, AND FOOTLESS BIRDS.

Of the Martin, or, as in Heraldry it is written, Martlet, Guillim thus writes:--“The Martlet, or Martinet, saith Bekenhawh, hath Legs so exceeding short, that they can by no means go: (walk) And thereupon, it seemeth, the Grecians do call them Apodes, quasi sine pedibus; not because they do want Feet, but because they have not such Use of their Feet, as other Birds have. And if perchance they fall upon the Ground, they cannot raise themselves upon their Feet, as others do, and prepare themselves to flight. For this Cause they are accustomed to make their Nests upon Rocks and other high places, from whence they may easily take their flight, by Means of the Support of the Air. Hereupon it came, that this Bird is painted in Arms without Feet: and for this Cause it is also given for a Difference of younger Brethren, to put them in mind to trust to their wings of Vertue and Merit, to raise themselves, and not to their Legs, having little Land to put their foot on.”