Note 623 — Chapter IV · POULTRY, FRUIT, WINE, ETC.

The solitary sparrow inhabits the cliffs of Delphi, and the song-thrush is heard in the pine woods of Parnassus. Above these, when the heights of the mountain are covered with snow, is seen the Emberiza Nivalis, inhabitant alike of the frozen Spitzbergen, and of the Grecian Alp.—Sibthorpe in Walp. Mem. i. 76, seq. Homer is said to have written a poem called Ἐπικιχλίδες, because when he sung it to the boys they rewarded him with thrushes. In consequence of the estimation in which these birds were held κιχλίζω “to feed on thrushes,” came to signify “to live luxuriously.”—Payne Knight, Prolegg. ad Hom. p. 8.