The Natural History of Pliny the Elder is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire. The full work consists of 37 books, covering more than 20.000 topics ranging from astronomy and mathematics to botany and precious stones. The book became a model for later encyclopaedias and gives a fascinating overview of the state of scientific knowledge almost 2000 years ago. This version of the Natural History (or, the "Pliny") has been adapted for a younger audience. This fourth volume contains Book VII (The Natural History of Birds) and Book VIII (The Various Kinds of Insects) out of a total of 9 books. - Summary by Foon
Chapters
1
Bk. 7 Ch. 1 – The Ostrich Read by Foon 2:28
2
Bk. 7 Ch. 2 – The Phoenix Read by Foon 3:39
3
Bk. 7 Ch. 3 – The Eagle Read by Foon 9:41
4
Bk. 7 Ch. 4 – The Vulture and the Hawk Read by Foon 7:38
5
Bk. 7 Ch. 5 – The Crow, the Raven, and the Owl Read by Foon 4:43
6
Bk. 7 Ch. 6 – The Woodpecker of Mars Read by Foon 3:22
7
Bk. 7 Ch. 7 – The Peacock and the Rooster Read by Foon 6:19
8
Bk. 7 Ch. 8 – The Goose Read by Foon 2:46
9
Bk. 7 Ch. 9 – Cranes Read by Foon 2:30
10
Bk. 7 Ch. 10 – Storks and Swans Read by Foon 3:33
11
Bk. 7 Ch. 11 – Foreign Birds which Visit Us Read by Foon 4:47
12
Bk. 7 Ch. 12 – Swallows Read by Foon 1:55
13
Bk. 7 Ch. 13 – Birds which take their Departure from Us in Winter Read by Foon 6:35
14
Bk. 7 Ch. 14 – The Nightingale Read by Foon 4:56
15
Bk. 7 Ch. 15 – The Halcyons: the Halcyon Days that are Favorable to Navigation Read by Foon 2:43
16
Bk. 7 Ch. 16 – The Instinctive Cleverness Displayed by Birds in the Construction of their Nests Read by Foon 3:14
17
Bk. 7 Ch. 17 – The Acanthyllis and the Partridge Read by Foon 5:21
18
Bk. 7 Ch. 18 – Pigeons Read by Foon 5:25
19
Bk. 7 Ch. 19 – Different Modes of Flight and Progression in Birds Read by Foon 4:01
20
Bk. 7 Ch. 20 – Strange and Fabulous Birds Read by C. Roxanne Maxwell 15:01
21
Bk. 7 Ch. 21 – The Art of Cramming Poultry; Aviaries Read by C. Roxanne Maxwell 4:03
22
Bk. 7 Ch. 22 – Peculiarities of Animals Read by C. Roxanne Maxwell 9:40
23
Bk. 8 Ch. 1 – The Extreme Smallness of Insects Read by C. Roxanne Maxwell 5:00
24
Bk. 8 Ch. 2 – Whether Insects Breathe, and Whether they have Blood Read by Rachel May Ferriman 4:12
25
Bk. 8 Ch. 3 – Bees Read by Rachel May Ferriman 5:23
26
Bk. 8 Ch. 4 – The Mode in which Bees Work Read by Rachel May Ferriman 8:15
27
Bk. 8 Ch. 5 – The Mode of Government of the Bees Read by Rachel May Ferriman 4:07
28
Bk. 8 Ch. 6 – Wasps and Hornets Read by Andrew Gaunce 2:04
29
Bk. 8 Ch. 7 – The Silk-Worm Read by Andrew Gaunce 2:27
30
Bk. 8 Ch. 8 – Spiders Read by Ruth P. 5:02
31
Bk. 8 Ch. 9 – Locusts Read by Ruth P. 4:44
32
Bk. 8 Ch. 10 – Ants Read by Ruth P. 4:08
From LibriVox, read by volunteers and in the public domain. LibriVox page (opens librivox.org) , the text (opens gutenberg.org) , all files on the Internet Archive (opens archive.org) .
