The phene has a film over its eyes and sees badly, but
the sea-eagle is very keen-sighted, and before its young are fledged
tries to make them stare at the sun, and beats the one that refuses to
do so, and twists him back in the sun's direction; and if one of
them gets watery eyes in the process, it kills him, and rears the
other. It lives near the sea, and feeds, as has been said, on
sea-birds; when in pursuit of them it catches them one by one,
watching the moment when the bird rises to the surface from its
dive. When a sea-bird, emerging from the water, sees the sea-eagle, he
in terror dives under, intending to rise again elsewhere; the eagle,
however, owing to its keenness of vision, keeps flying after him until
he either drowns the bird or catches him on the surface. The eagle
never attacks these birds when they are in a swarm, for they keep
him off by raising a shower of water-drops with their wings.
35
The cepphus is caught by means of sea-foam; the bird snaps at
the foam, and consequently fishermen catch it by sluicing with showers
of sea-water. These birds grow to be plump and fat; their flesh has
a good odour, excepting the hinder quarters, which smell of shoreweed.
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