birding-aus

Fw: Re: [BIRDCHAT] Aristotle (384-322 BC) A big lister

To: "Birding-aus" <>
Subject: Fw: Re: [BIRDCHAT] Aristotle (384-322 BC) A big lister
From: "Trevor Quested" <>
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 06:06:27 +1100
From: Paul Rakow <>
To:  <>
Date: Sunday, 15 November 1998 2:00
Subject: Re: [BIRDCHAT] Aristotle (384-322 BC) A big lister


> Trevor,
>
>    A translation of Aristotle's book about natural history is
> available on-line, it is fascinating reading. Sometimes he
> believes tall stories, but usually he is more sensible than
> a lot of the Romans and medieval Europeans.
>
> http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/history_anim.mb.txt
>
>    Most of the species-descriptions for birds are in book IX,
> the last one. (I haven't counted to see how many there are).
> Some are very evocative, for example "The nightingale, when the
> hills are taking on verdure, sings continually for fifteen days
> and fifteen nights; afterwards it sings, but not continuously."
>
>   (And Aristotle did know the difference between birds and bats,
> his definition of birds is that they had to have feathered wings,
> and he thinks that flying creatures with leather wings, such as flying
> foxes and bats should be put into a different group, which he says
> doesn't yet have a name.)
>
>     Paul Rakow
>     
>     Regensburg,  Germany
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Trevor Quested <> quoted:
>
>"To our knowledge, Aristotle (384-322 BC) was the first person to look at
birds
>scientifically, describing what he considered to be 170 varieties and
>discussing their physiology, reproduction, and ecology. Aristotle was the
first
>to make systematic classification of birds based on observation and
dissection,
>he divided birds into eight groups."
>


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • Fw: Re: [BIRDCHAT] Aristotle (384-322 BC) A big lister, Trevor Quested <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU