1. The owl and nycticorax, and the other birds which see imperfectly by
daylight, procure their food by hunting in the night. They do not this
all the night, but in twilight and at early dawn. They hunt mice, and
lizards, and beetles, and such other small animals.
2. The bird called asprey produces many young, is of a good habit
of body, diligent in search of food, and gentle; and feeds both its
own young and those of the eagle: for when the eagle turns out its
young, the phene takes them up and feeds them; for the eagle ejects
them before the proper time, when they still require feeding, and are
unable to fly. The eagle appears to eject its young from the nest from
envy; for it is an envious and hungry bird, and not quick in seizing
its prey. It captures large creatures when it can. When its young have
grown, it envies them, for they are good for food, and tears them with
its claws. The young also fight in the nest for particular places, and
for the food. The parent then turns them out of the nest and strikes
them. When they are turned out they begin to scream, and the phene
comes and takes them up. The phene is dim-sighted, and its eyes are
imperfect.
3. The sea-eagle is very quick-sighted, and compels its young to gaze
on the sun before they are feathered. If anyone of them refuse, it is
beaten and turned round: and the one of them which first weeps when
gazing on the sun is killed, the other is reared. It lives near the sea
side, and obtains its food by pursuing marine birds, as it was before
remarked. It pursues and takes them one at a time, watching them as
they emerge from the sea. And if the bird, as it rises, sees the eagle
watching it, it dives again from fear, in order that it may rise again
in another place: but the eagle's quick sight enables him to pursue the
bird till it is either suffocated, or taken on the wing; but it never
attacks them in any numbers, for they drive it away by sprinkling it
with their wings.
4. The petrels are taken with foam, for they devour it. They are
therefore taken by sprinkling them. All the rest of its flesh is good;
the rump alone smells of seaweed, and they are fat.