Having  thus  enveloped  him,  it  carries  him  into
Egypt  to  the  temple  of  the  sun.  Such  are  the
actions  which  they  represent  this  bird  as  perform-
ing*"

The  following  description  by  Pliny  is  chiefly,  if  not
wholly,  derived  from  Herodotus.  "  The  birds,"  he
says,  "  of  Ethiopia  and  India  are  for  the  most  part
of  diverse  colours,  and  such  as  a  man  is  hardly  able  to
decipher  and  describe ;  but  the  phoenix  of  Arabia
passes  all  others.  Howbeit  I  cannot  tell  what  to
make  of  him  :  and  first  of  all  whether  it  be  a  tale  or
no  that  there  is  never  but  one  of  them  in  all  the
world,  and  the  same  not  commonly  seen.  By  report
he  is  as  big  as  an  eagle ;  for  colour,  as  yellow  and
bright  as  gold,  (namely,  all  about  the  neck;)  the
rest  of  the  body  a  deep  red  purple  :  the  tail  azure
blue,  intermingled  with  feathers  among  of  rose  car-
nation colour ;  and  the  head  bravely  adorned  with  a
crest  and  penache  finely  wrought,  having  a  tuft  and
plume  thereupon  right  goodly  to  be  seen.  Manilius,
the  noble  Roman  senator,  right  excellently  seen  in
the  best  kind  of  learning  and  literature,  and  yet
never  taught  by  any,  was  the  first  man  of  the  long
robe  who  wrote  of  this  bird  at  large,  and  most  exqui-
sitely he  reporteth,  that  never  man  was  known  to  see
*  Herodotus,  Euterpe,  73,  Laurent's  Trans.
