Note ttt — BOOK IV.
Reading edition
Quid dicam quantus amor bestiarum sit in educandis custodiendisque iis, qua procreaverint, usque ad eum finem, dum possint seipsa defendere? And having instanced in some Animals, where this Care is not necessary, and accordingly is not employed, he goes on, Jam Gallinæ, avesque reliquæ, & quietum requirunt ad pariendum locum, & cubilia sibi, nidosque construunt, eosque quàm possunt mollissimè substernunt, ut quàm facillime ova serventur. Ex quibus pullos cùm excluserint, ita tuentur, ut & pennis foveant, ne frigore lædantur, & si est calor, à sole se opponant. Cic. de Nat. Deor. l. 2. c. 51, 52.
To this natural Care of Parent-Animals to their young, we may add the Returns made by the young of some towards the old ones. Pliny saith of Rats, Genitores suos fesses senectâ, alunt insigni pietate. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 57. So Cranes, he saith, Genitricum senectam invicem educant. L. 10. c. 23.
This St. Ambrose takes Notice of in his Hexameron, and Ol. Magnus after him, Depositi patris artus, per longævum senectutis plumis nudatos circumstans soboles pennis propriis fovet,——collatitio cibo pascit, quando etiam ipsa naturæ reparat dispendia, ut hinc inde senem sublevantes, fulcro alarum suarum ad volandum exerceant, & in pristinos usus desueta membra reducant. For which Reason this Bird is denominated Pia. Vid. Ol. Mag. Hist. l. 19. c. 14.
Hereto may be added also the conjugal Στοργὴ of the little green Æthiopian Parrot, which Mr. Ray describes from Clusius. Fœmellea senescentes (quod valdè notabile) vix edere volebant, nisi cibum jam à mare carptum, & aliquandiu in prolobo retentum, & quasi coctum rostro suo exciperent, ut Columbarum pulli à matre ali solent. Synops. Meth. Av. p. 32.