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The owl and the night-raven and all the birds see poorly in the
daytime seek their prey in the night, but not all the night through,
but at evening and dawn. Their food consists of mice, lizards, chafers
and the like little creatures. The so-called phene, or lammergeier, is
fond of its young, provides its food with ease, fetches food to its
nest, and is of a kindly disposition. It rears its own young and those
of the eagle as well; for when the eagle ejects its young from the
nest, this bird catches them up as they fall and feeds them. For the
eagle, by the way, ejects the young birds prematurely, before they are
able to feed themselves, or to fly. It appears to do so from jealousy;
for it is by nature jealous, and is so ravenous as to grab furiously
at its food; and when it does grab at its food, it grabs it in large
morsels. It is accordingly jealous of the young birds as they approach
maturity, since they are getting good appetites, and so it scratches
them with its talons. The young birds fight also with one another,
to secure a morsel of food or a comfortable position, whereupon the
mother-bird beats them and ejects them from the nest; the young ones
scream at this treatment, and the phene hearing them catches them as
they fall.
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