Belon says, that in spite of its revolting taste when unaccustomed to it, the bittern is, however, among the delicious treats of the French.

It was at about the same period that guinea-fowls were brought from the coast of Africa by Portuguese merchants; and the travelling naturalist, Pierre Belon, who wrote in the year 1555, asserts that in his time "they had already so multiplied in the houses of the nobles that they had become quite common.

Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the Travels of P. Belon, "Observations de Plusieurs Singularitez," &c.: 4to (Paris, 1588).

"Fie, fie!" answered she "Am I to belon

BELON, PIERRE, a French naturalist, one of the founders of natural history, and one of the precursors of Cuvier; wrote in different departments of natural history, the chief, "Natural History of Birds"; murdered by robbers while gathering plants in the Bois de Boulogne (1518-1564).