Nature's varied dispositions

They are diverse; for some are lawless and autonomous, while others are ordered under a ruler, some are migratory, and others are local. The peacock is the one that crows, but the hawk is most favorable regarding man.

for it is said that in Thrace the hawks work with bird-hunters during the huntd their time in thick woods, where a kind of birds dwells, and they coordinate with those going to the hunt to receive a share of what is caught. And when the hunters shake the trees, the birds, being startled, cry out and fly up, and the hawks, swooping down over their heads, strike their heads and cast them to the ground, preparing an easy hunt for men; and those who are without the hunt immediately receive a share of it.

The pelican is a lover of its young; for while feeding the chicks, they strike him in the face with their wings; but he who strikes them destroys them, and being moved to pity, he mourns them for three days. And the mother, coming upon them, tears her side, and her blood drips upon the chicks, and they are brought to life. These pelicans eat the shells in this way: being unable to release them because they are gripped, they swallow them first, so that by the heat around the pharynx, the adhering glue may be loosened and the shells may be softened; having dissolved them, they easily eat their food. And the nests are not where they hatch, but, because of the multitude of hunters, they move to another place to rear the young. And when they perceive some of the young ones having arrived for the hunt, they fly up and divert the haste of the hunters toward themselves, providing a time of flight for the young; and after the young have escaped, they carry themselves very boldly with the young, as if walking on the air.

The peacock is a lover of beauty, rushing from India. This one, having spread his beauty and shown the spectacle of his wings, is led toward a meeting with the female, just as a peacock shows this adornment to her; for the peacock is almost like a beautiful garden.

For gold is planted around its wings, and a circular woven pattern surrounds the purple gold; and an equal circle is enclosed by the gold, and there is an eye in a wing. The phoenix has the size of a peacock, but differs from the peacock in color; for its wings have been dyed with gold and purple, and its head is naturally adorned in the shape of a circular crown. And the circle is azure, and rose-like. Being well-formed in appearance, and adorned with rays, as if a sun stands on high; as others have recorded the form of this body, as they themselves describe it thus: for its length is almost double that of an eagle. With various wings and colors, its body is burned. Its breast, indeed, appears purple, but its legs are millet-colored, and at the neck, it is elegantly arranged with saffron-colored hairs. And its head is like a bed of days, and it looked toward the girl with a millet-grain. And it appeared like a grain of millet to the girls. And it had a voice most pleasant to all. And it appeared as king of all birds, as one might perceive; for all birds, wandering long away behind it, fell down. And itself, like a bull boasting, was walking with a firm step, bearing the weight of its foot.

They say this exists as a unique animal, not existing by succession, but existing most alone, and living five hundred years. And at the time when it is about to perish (for it foresees its own death), having aimed for some high place, at the rising of the sun, it gathers its beauty from aromatic twigs, and then is consumed by the ray of the sun, and is completely dissolved into dust; then from the dust worms are produced, and from the worm into the first phoenix it is transformed.

But the eagle is most unjust regarding the nourishment of the young; for having done two things, it makes one inhabit with it, and it sends the other away by chewing it with its wings, through the food, as they say, the venom. But the phoenix, having received the one left behind, simultaneously nourishes the young ones with the inhabitants. And having nourished the young one, the eagle falls upon it, taking it toward the ether; and if it were to see it having sharpened itself against the brightness of the sun, and boldly resounding through the air, it makes it its own inhabitant; but if it is unformed toward these things, it casts it off as a bastard. For they say