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In the first place, then, behold the purposeful demonstrations and preparations of bullsSee Mair on Oppian, Cyn. ii. 57. stirring up dust when intent on battle, and wild boars whetting their tusks.Aelian, De Natura Animal. vi. 1; Philo, 51 (p. 125); Homer, Iliad, xiii. 474 f. Since elephants’ tusks are blunted by wear when, by digging or chopping, they fell the trees that feed them, they use only one tusk for this purpose and keep the other always pointed and sharp for defence. Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 8; viii. 71 of the rhinoceros; Aelian, De Natura Animal. vi. 56; Antigonus, Hist. Mirab. 102. Lions Cf. Mor. 520 f; Aelian, De Natura Animal. ix. 30. always walk with paws clenched and claws retracted so that these may not be dulled by wear at the point or leave a plain trail for trackers; for it is not easy to find any trace of a lion’s claw; on the contrary, any sign of a track that is found is so slight and obscure that hunters lose the trail and go astray. You have heard, I am sure, how the ichneumonSee Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. ix. 6 (612 a 16 ff.), where, however, the animal’s opponent is the asp. (So also Aelian, De Natura Animal. iii. 22; v. 48; vi. 38.) But cf. 980 e infra; Aelian, De Natura Animal. viii. 25; x. 47; Nicander, Theriaca, 201. girds itself for battle as thoroughly as any soldier putting on his armour, such a quantity of mud does it don and plaster about its body when it plans to attack the crocodile. Moreover, we see house-martins Cf. Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. ix. 7 (612 b 21 ff.); Pliny, Nat. Hist. x. 92; Philo, 22 (p. 110); Yale Class. Studies, xii. 139, on Anth. Pal. x. 4. 6. preparing for procreation: how well they lay the solid twigs at the bottom to serve as a foundation, then mould the lighter bits about them; and if they perceive that the nest needs a lump of mud to glue it together, they skim over a pond or lake, touching the water with only the tips of their feathers to make them moist, yet not heavy with dampness; then they scoop up dust and so smear over and bind together any parts that begin to sag or loosen. As for the shape of their work, it has no angles nor many sides, but is as smooth and circular as they can make it; such a shape is, in fact, both stable and capacious and provides no hold on the outside for scheming animals. θηρία may be serpents here, or any wild beast, perhaps, such as members of the cat family that relish a diet of birds.
