The Goal of the Wise

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A partial illustration of a bird's tail or wing is visible at the top left edge of the page.

or from natural things, or whether they are from those that are held to be [as they are] since in them are good things arranged. The intermediate [birds] similarly swim, and especially those that live from worms which they catch under the water. Terrestrial birds, however, some pass with them to [other] places. We, therefore, [say] they pass, and small birds, not however flying above; for the aquatic ones [are] of the intermediate and terrestrial [sorts]. Those, however, that are of slight flight and of few [wings], or fly weakly, their flight especially to places [that are] more favorable [they] cannot [make]. They pass, however, in the place of this change hence to the mountains, namely to nearby places, as from the mountains to the valleys, in the time of winter, and from the native [lowlands] to the mountains in the time of summer, which the terrestrial [birds] do, such as pheasants, peacocks, bustards, and generally all according to Pliny, which do not walk two by two, namely one male with his female in the time of hatching.

And in the time of winter [they move] from less warm waters to warmer [ones], such as from smaller rivers to larger, and from larger to marshes, and ponds, and lakes, and from these to nearby maritime estuaries, or to the waters of springs

In the left margin, two birds with long, straight beaks and speckled plumage are depicted standing on green grassy mounds.

At the bottom left, a large bird stands on a green base. It has a white breast and neck with a small head, and brownish-black patterned wings and back, resembling a bustard.

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coming from the deep, because such waters are then warmer. For they change also; they fly for the sake of guarding their flight, and therefore they change place and valleys, not by flying but by walking on foot. The return of the mountains [they] connect to the change [and] to closer places, such as... These birds, however, [cannot] sustain infirmity and coldness, and [in] the region in which [they are] called sparrows, [they are] staying in their homeland. Those that are born and inhabit in India, and in the region which is under the equator or near, those nest and nourish their children until they become perfect, nor do they need to pass [elsewhere] for the acquisition of their food, nor to flee the intemperance of the cold. For when the sun approaches twice to the zenith of the head of those living there, and recedes twice, and rises twice, they have a double spring, a double summer, a double autumn, and a double winter, and therefore they have fruits, herbs, seeds, locusts, caterpillars, and the like in abundance, nor is the winter cold intense for them, since the sun is not distanced from their heads, except by twenty-three degrees and minutes. Moreover

In the right margin, two birds are illustrated on a green mound. The left bird is dark and solid in color. The right bird has a long beak and barred patterns on its wings. Marginal annotations in a different hand label them: merg (merganser) rallus (rail)