It runs quickly, and is pretty easily
domesticated. The starling is speckled; it is of the same size as
the owsel.
27
Of the Egyptian ibis there are two kinds, the white and the black.
The white ones are found over Egypt, excepting in Pelusium; the
black ones are found in Pelusium, and nowhere else in Egypt.
28
Of the little horned owls there are two kinds, and one is
visible at all seasons, and for that reason has the nickname of
'all-the-year-round owl'; it is not sufficiently palatable to come
to table; another species makes its appearance sometimes in the
autumn, is seen for a single day or at the most for two days, and is
regarded as a table delicacy; it scarcely differs from the first
species save only in being fatter; it has no note, but the other
species has. With regard to their origin, nothing is known from ocular
observation; the only fact known for certain is that they are first
seen when a west wind is blowing.
29
The cuckoo, as has been said elsewhere, makes no nest, but
deposits its eggs in an alien nest, generally in the nest of the
ring-dove, or on the ground in the nest of the hypolais or lark, or on
a tree in the nest of the green linnet.
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