| Description | Christ Church, Oxford
12 July 1886
My dear Sir Frederick
Neither in the text of ancient authors (Pindar, Xenephon, Thernitas?, al), nor in the best Commentators can I find any trace of the supposition that the [-] was not the bird itself, but an imitation. No doubt, the word came to be used in a metaphorical sense for a love-charm or spell. But that is quite a different thing. The best account of the matter is in Schneider's note on Xenephan's Memerabilia iii. 11. §17. Later writers have done little more than follow this. The Article in the last Ed. of our own Lexicon is a complete summary.
After writing this, I see that in the Anthologia (V.205) an [-] is described as [in Greek?] of Cypris. This does seem to have been a figure of the bird carved in amethyst and shimmering with gold. But the Epigram is (apparently) late, and at most shews that in process of time artists took to representing the bird in precious materials.
Yours very truly
H G Liddell
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