Baptism: or else it denotes those who would fly by contemplation,
yet dwell in the waters of sensual delights. The hawk, which helps
men to seize the prey, is a figure of those who assist the strong to
prey on the poor. The screech-owl, which seeks its food by night but
hides by day, signifies the lustful man who seeks to lie hidden in
his deeds of darkness. The cormorant, so constituted that it can stay
a long time under water, denotes the glutton who plunges into the
waters of pleasure. The ibis is an African bird with a long beak, and
feeds on snakes; and perhaps it is the same as the stork: it
signifies the envious man, who refreshes himself with the ills of
others, as with snakes. The swan is bright in color, and by the aid
of its long neck extracts its food from deep places on land or water:
it may denote those who seek earthly profit though an external
brightness of virtue. The bittern is a bird of the East: it has a
long beak, and its jaws are furnished with follicules, wherein it
stores its food at first, after a time proceeding to digest it: it is
a figure of the miser, who is excessively careful in hoarding up the
necessaries of life. The coot [*Douay: _porphyrion._ St. Thomas'
description tallies with the coot or moorhen: though of course he is
mistaken about the feet differing from one another.] has this
peculiarity apart from other birds, that it has a webbed foot for
swimming, and a cloven foot for walking: for it swims like a duck in
the water, and walks like a partridge on land: it drinks only when it
bites, since it dips all its food in water: it is a figure of a man
who will not take advice, and does nothing but what is soaked in the
water of his own will. The heron [*Vulg.: _herodionem_], commonly
called a falcon, signifies those whose "feet are swift to shed blood"
(Ps. 13:3). The plover [*Here, again, the Douay translators
transcribed from the Vulgate: _charadrion;_ _charadrius_ is the
generic name for all plovers.], which is a garrulous bird, signifies
the gossip. The hoopoe, which builds its nest on dung, feeds on
foetid ordure, and whose song is like a groan, denotes worldly grief
which works death in those who are unclean. The bat, which flies near
the ground, signifies those who being gifted with worldly knowledge,
seek none but earthly things. Of fowls and quadrupeds those alone
were permitted which have the hind-legs longer than the forelegs, so
that they can leap: whereas those were forbidd