It is said that in the territory of Tarentum, the woodpecker of Mars is never found. It is only lately, and that very rarely, that various kinds of pies have begun to be seen in the districts that lie between the Apennines and the City. These birds are remarkable for the length of the tail and for the peculiarity of becoming bald every year at the time of sewing rape. The partridge does not fly beyond the frontiers of Bœotia, into Attica; nor does any bird, in the island in the Black Sea in which Achilles was buried, enter the temple there consecrated to him. In the territory of Fidenæ, in the vicinity of the City, the storks have no young nor do they build nests: but vast numbers of ringdoves arrive from beyond sea every year in the district of Volaterræ. At Rome, neither Hies nor dogs ever enter the temple of Hercules in the Cattle Market. There are numerous other instances of a similar nature in reference to all kinds of animals, which from time to time I feel myself prompted by prudent considerations to omit, lest I should only weary the reader. There is another remarkable fact, too, relative to the birds which give omens by their note; they generally change their color and voice at a certain season of the year, and suddenly become quite altered in appearance; a thing that, among the larger birds, happens with the crane only, which grows black in its old age. From black, the blackbird changes to a reddish color, sings in summer, chatters in winter, and about the summer solstice loses its voice; when a year old, the beak also assumes the appearance of ivory; but only in the case of the male. In summer, the thrush is mottled about the neck, but in winter it becomes of one uniform color all over. CHAPTER XIV. THE NIGHTINGALE.